DIEZ MINUTOS, Alberto Ruiz Rojo

"The golden rule is that there are no golden rules"-- George Bernard Shaw

Though most of us try to be law abiding citizen, we all break rules everyday intentionally or unintentionally. When we are on a smooth ride of our journey of life, rules play perfect symphony with our law abiding nature until we experience new path of life. It can be rough or more smooth than before.

What makes us different among the other species of our planet is the ability to think. Rules are invented as well as broken by us. But WHY?

DIEZ MINUTOS (10 mins)

Here in the Spanish short film "DIEZ MINUTOS", a man (played by Gustavo Salmerón) calls a customer service operator (played by Eva Marcel) in search of an information to connect him with his girlfriend. The conversation starts with a mechanical exchange of words where the organized stiffness of the operator refuses to help him with the information which is against the Company's rule. The man keeps on requesting the operator, to give him the information available to them which can save him getting detached from his girlfriend forever. The conversation goes on &  on, to pull the hidden emotion out of the operator, so that she can understand his state of mind as an human perspective instead of acting as a machine. But she sticks to her Company's rule of not leaking out the information, which is of vital importance to him at this moment. 

Is she mean? She has feeling? Is she afraid of overcoming the rules? ...

                                                        WHAT DO YOU THINK?

It's a long debate to come across any particular conclusion but before that, one must see this short-film to experience a whack on the head, so that we can use our COMMON SENSE instead of thinking too much about logic.

Monsters do not exist

“Monsters do not exist” is a documentary fiction directed by Paul Urkijo Alijo.  It's about a Cambodian boy, Nai, who lives in Phnom Penh with his grandmother. He grew up listening to the stories of Demon species based on ancient mythology.

YEAK

 

“Yeak” is a mythical monster in Khmer tradition who eats naughty children. These stories made an impact on Nai & he starts suffering from nightmares. Every child’s soul is as pure as the driven snow. According to the poet William Wordsworth-

“Our birth is but a sleep & a forgetting”

Not in entire forgetfulness,

And not in utter nakedness,

But trailing clouds of glory do we come

From God, who is our home:

HEAVEN LIES ABOUT US IN OUR INFANCY!”

Pure soul is a precious gift we have for the amelioration of the world we live in unless & until it is eaten up by the demons that may exist in the form of our own species.This film reveals the harsh reality of Cambodia. Being haunted by the imagination of monsters is not as scary as being a victim of real human beast. Here the character, Nai, is a victim of his own imagination of monsters & later an English teacher taking the advantage of his innocent soul shows him that Monsters do not exist in illusory world but exist in the form of normal human being.

In fact many children like Nai suffer from sexual assault in the tourism industry of Cambodia. Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE) is a non-governmental organization dedicated to stop the sexual exploitation of children in Cambodia. In 2003 APLE & Spanish NGO Global Humanitaria partnered to launch “THE PROTECT” with national authorities to rescue children & bring perpetrators to legal account. I am sharing a link below:

                         

http://ring-the-alarm.com/

Everyone must sign this petition to stop the perpetrators from destroying the future of innocent children.

Special thanks to the producer of “Monsters do not exist” Señor Andrés Torres for his support & David Zabala for his excellent camera work.

Schwarzfahrer

With the advancement of time & technology, do people change their way of thinking?  The answer lies in the short film “Schwarzfahrer” directed by Pepe Danquart at the end of 20^th century.  “Schwarzfahrer is a German word meaning “Black rider”.

It was filmed inside some city of Germany & starts with a train shot focusing on daily life of people with an amazing cinematography. A black man(Paul Outlaw) boards a tram along with other passengers & asks an elderly white lady(Senta Moira) that the seat just beside her is occupied or not. She gives an insolence look & completely ignores him.

After taking the seat, the lady starts expressing her hatred towards the immigrants from other countries, calling them illegal & indirectly insults this black man. The train was occupied with other passengers from different countries & they felt disturbed with her comments on them. The situation was becoming tensed with her continuous remarks & it gives an impression as if the black man will go out of his temper ending up attacking her. But he remained silent while tolerating the humiliation he was facing from her. After a while the tram stops & a ticket checker enters. The lady still complaining takes out her ticket & all of a sudden the black man did something unexpected. Though one short scene from the Bollywood film “DEVD” is inspired from this act but it’s ok. We are all inspired with something.

Finally when the ticket checker arrives at her seat & asks for her ticket, she said that the black nigger sitting beside her has eaten up the ticket. Upon showing his valid ticket, the ticket checker didn't believe her excuse & tells her to come along with him. Though many passengers were aware of what’s going on, they remained silent to teach her a lesson.

So who is the black rider? The title “Schwarzfahrer” itself is the moral of this short film.

The Maid

http://vimeo.com/52065999

The German short film “The Maid” directed by Sascha Zimmermann has made a lasting impression on me. It’s a suspense thriller with only one protagonist character (Martin) on screen. An executive (Martin) working away from home calls his wife after having a tiring day. Surprisingly an unknown maid picks up the phone & informs him that she can’t give the phone to his wife.

After a certain hesitation she tells him that his wife is not alone in his bedroom & is making love with another man. On hearing this he breaks down completely & without thinking for a moment makes a deal with the unknown maid to kill his wife & her lover. The deal was finally fixed for 60000 euros to kill both of them. He was confirmed about the job when he heard their screaming on telephone before being killed. It is not the end of the story or revenge or frustration or insecurity. The suspense now takes a new turn when he discovers something more shocking than he would have imagined from this unknown maid. What’s that? Let the suspense be rolling for those who haven’t seen this film yet.