An early scene in Bus 7070 shows Rita (Cintaine Schutte), a postal worker, on her knees in the lounge, doing a series of stretches while listening to a motivational tape on a Walkman.
The steady, quiet and stern voice of an older man tells Rita to repeat a mantra: “I am more than enough. I am stronger than I think. I am the queen of my earthly domain.”
Those who, like me, have chosen to amble through the ongoing Global Historical Event with the guidance of internet mindfulness mavens and incidental yogis will be familiar with this scene. You find a quiet place — next to the Clothes Chair but far enough away from your “toxic” smartphone — and you take a few deep, cleansing breaths. For those ten minutes, you’re closer to being happy than you have been for days.
Away from the yoga mat, Rita is trapped in a boxy postal office every day, sorting through envelopes and unsuccessfully avoiding an ornery, chauvinistic boss. Like many of us, she has little to do but face her work and hope the walls don’t close in on her. She hopes that practicing “manifestation” will one day lift her out of her dull existence to someplace happier, shinier, and full of smiles. A place where she and her mysterious new friend, the man who visits the post office daily to collect letters from box number 7070, can finally be together.
It’s a traditional meet-cute: girl locks eyes with boy at a suitably precarious angle, they smile shyly at each other, she stutters and mispronounces her own name, he is lost in her beautiful eyes and they make plans to run off together as soon as possible.
Through the small gap in the wall, Rita and Anton (Gustav Gerdener) get to know each other. Soon the letters are forgotten as they use the post box as a channel to connect. The device is clever: having them talk to each other through the post box feels like listening to them reciting their love notes. We get to eavesdrop while Rita gets closer to her dream.
Halfway through the film I did find myself wondering: why doesn’t Rita just walk out of the office and catch up with her dream man before he leaves? He is around the corner but Rita feels like he is impossible to reach. This underscores the complex feelings associated with manifesting your best life: you have to have an almost foolish amount of courage to truly believe that it will work.
Bus 7070 reminds us that we can only accept what we believe we deserve.
Fortunately, Anton is committed to making Rita his. So in this case another popular mantra, “what I want also wants me” is also true.
The sessions with her cassette tape guru have not made Rita a brand new person, but she has become a more hopeful and action-oriented person. The “teachings” may have been ridiculous at times, but what Bus 7070 proves is that commitment to doing your best — at work, with friends or, let’s be honest, to get through another day — is what makes a difference.
Nkhensani Manabe 