Of Souls & Secrets

A mesmerizing journey through nature, accompanied by a man's thoughts.

An unknown person speaks about his views regarding life, his voice working as a voice-over, while shots of wilderness are shown. These terrific shots consist of mountains, many trees, waterfalls, lakes and rivers. The colour green plays a significant part in this film, as it pretty much dominates nearly the entire viewing. However, there is also civilization to be seen, including people with backpacks walking in the woods and street lights illuminating a road.

De is also responsible for the editing and does a wonderful job, utilizing dissolve techniques to great effect. The editing is very constructive, putting the images together in a way that reveals the wonders of nature.

With the exception of a few shots, there are no people here and the protagonist could be nature. The beauty and magic that it possesses is vividly shown in the outstanding shots that this film contains. Shooting took place in West Sikkim, India and nearly all the shosts are of wilderness.

Chatterjee's voice-over is another plus. His voice is gentle and calm as he speaks about his character's perspective on various things, including secrets and whether he is living his life the way he is supposed to. He talks about trees and compares them to secrets, emotions and clouds. His words give the impression that he is dealing with regrets and has lost his way.

The score consists of beautiful flute and piano music and listening to it while looking at the magical scenery adds further value to the experience. The audience will also hear the peaceful sounds of birds chirping and water flowing.

The camera work makes watching this short is a rather calm experience. The camera is almost constantly stationary and the movement that is seen often belongs to acts of nature, whether that is leaves moving due to the wind or the river flowing.

This achievement is twelve minutes of beauty. De's outstanding directing shows how breathtaking natural environments are and the addition of Chatterjee's words create a thoughtful viewing.