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★★★
Directed by: #PriyamChanda
Written by: #PriyamChanda
Starring: #SushovanDasgupta
The Confession is a short film that takes place during the worldwide Coronavirus pandemic and it was filmed during lockdown. We are introduced to a man played by Sushovan Dasgupta, seemingly filming his suicide tape. We view the first half of this film through a video camera as he describes his despair. We understand that he represents society as a whole, struggling with the loneliness and isolation of being forced to isolate from family and friends. In the second half of the film, the same man stands and faces away from the camera. This time, he represents the virus.
This film was clearly made on a low budget and it does a good job of utilising everything available in a flat, during a national lockdown. The director Priyam Chanda tells his story using limited, yet effective visuals. Through the opening part of the film, we very slowly push into Dasgupta as the music reflects his emotion. The desk behind the protagonist displays a guitar, a painting, and empty alcohol bottles; things that for better or worse helped people to get through lockdown. Chanda makes another subtle point through the timer on the camera; every time it reaches a minute, it goes back to zero. This illustrates how the unstructured days of lockdown caused people to feel they were stuck in a never ending time loop.
Unfortunately, the story begins to fall apart when the second character, representing the virus, is introduced. He talks about how he has been defeated through the unity of the human race, and that we have “won”. This fiercely positive message juxtaposes the hopelessness of the first character. Perhaps this in itself is the point that Chanda is trying to make - that we shouldn’t feel defeated as we are ‘beating’ the virus through becoming our best selves. However, as the film was made well before we had defeated the virus - and at the time of writing this review, we are still far from being out of the woods - the sentiment feels somewhat premature. The message of this film is unclear at best and its attempt at inspiring hope is taunting at a time when the death toll continues to rise in many countries.
That being said, the film raises an important point about the detrimental impact of lockdown on mental health. It also successfully tells an interesting, if slightly confusing story, using very limited resources. Everyone involved should feel proud of creating such a thought-provoking short whilst adhering to social distancing regulations.
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