Its 26 not 24!


Why aren't people mentioning this?!

http://us.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=4995990
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Given my understanding of the question (that is if I heard it properly) the correct answer is 26.

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I just watched this film for the first time, and of course I had to see how quickly I could come up with the correct answer. I did the calculations in my head (fairly easy) using the formula:
The Answer = 520 meters x 1/4 x 1/5 = 520 x 1/20 = 26 meters.
But.... because the company tester asked for the answer in centimeters, according to my subtitles, you must then multiply by 100.
Therefore I think the correct answer should be 2,600.

I also have no idea why:
A. the two main characters both said they answered 24.
B. no other viewers seem to have noticed or commented.

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Nice one, of course, 2600cm!

Please watch my shorthttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt1424542/, click trailer (its the film!)

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"...cinema is truth 24 times a second."

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Wow. I didn't bother to check as I just assumed they were right. I wonder if the company really cared about this particular question and whether or not it had any affect on the type of job they got.





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There are two ways to do great mathematics. The first is to be smarter than everybody else. The second way is to be stupider than everybody else—but persistent.
—Raoul Bott

My only option was the second way, so I took that route. By managing to channel my middle school self, along with pausing the dvd for an amount of time I won't divulge here, I was able to do the math in my head. When they said the answer I was confused and checked with a calculator.

24 doesn't make sense. For one person perhaps, but not for both of them to come to that same odd conclusion. In hindsight, the obvious mistake would be to come up with 26, missing the meters to centimeters conversion. (Doing the conversion results in the correct answer of 2,600 cm). Could they have said 26 in the movie, with incorrect subtitles? I doubt Criterion would make that mistake though.


Perhaps the company wasn't actually looking for the smartest people for those jobs, but rather people who could be satisfied doing repetitive boring soul depleting work for the rest of their working lives, while causing the company the least grief possible. Maybe all the people who didn't get called back were the ones who got the answer right, and were presumed to be unable to be satisfied in the long run having such jobs. If I remember correctly the man who gave the test said it was easy and he was sure they would all get it right. But as far as we know they only gave jobs to people who got it wrong, and of course he never said which answer would get people the jobs. Sneaky fellow. He gave a trick question inside of a trick test.


I enjoyed the movie, but it turned quite sad at the end. First the girl doesn't go to the dance as she said she would, perhaps indicating that she isn't interested in him anymore. Then the lonely clerical worker dies, passing from the world without anyone apparently caring. Then we see Domenico and his whole unsatisfying career laid out before him. With any luck, in 20 years he'll move up one desk. Personally I hope he eventually escaped to find a job he could enjoy and that would give him happiness.

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repetitive boring soul depleting work
For some, I guess. But any work that`s repetitive and boring is only soul-depleting if one lets it. Sublimation, Holden, sublimation.

Worse is the new normal. ~ Mark Steyn

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since i'm studying italian, i can confirm that the girl said '24' and he said 'me too'. i was surprised yeah! pretty funny.. perhaps it was to prove their youth and naivety, but for them to have one full hour and not to realise their mistake is a bit odd! oh wel it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of the film, i'm enjoying it so far, i'm about half way through. the italian is tough to understand though, i'm having to rely a lot on the subtitles.

"gentlemen make your lives extraordinary"

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That he replies "me too" makes me convinced he didn't really have 24 as an answer too, but just says so to not look stupid or make her feel stupid. His reply is more about his insecurity toward her than his answer to the test.

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I did it in my head while watching the scene then when they later both said it was 24 I wondered if the subtitles for the film were bad, either in stating the question or their answers.


"My name is Paikea Apirana, and I come from a long line of chiefs stretching all the way back to the Whale Rider."

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