From the film's synopsis: The concept of Panchabhuta – 5 elements – is central to Indian speculative thought. A group of people, in a fictional space and time, perform a ritual to evoke the essence of these fundamental elements of existence. Mudras (hand gestures) become the vehicle in the act of offering whereas Naad (Sound) becomes pivotal in the exploration of life and beyond. The film premiered at IFFR 2020.
This rather minimal, experimental, black-and-white short focuses on a number of hand movements over soil, that seem to resemble some kind of choreography. In that fashion, we see a hand touching soil, then having soil inside its palm. A noise of a tool eventually starts being heard from somewhere outside the frame, while the camera moves first horizontally and then vertically over the soil. Then two different (people) use small stones to carve a spiral sign on some bigger stones, while the next frame has someone placing the large stones in a kind of structure. Then the spiral sign is created through a kind of animation on screen, followed by another scene in the soil, although this time, the background sound is that of a fire. The camera then turns to the sky, where clouds are amassing, thunder is heard in the background, and a number of birds are trying to find a shelter. The scene seems to suggest that the ritual was a success. Then the camera focuses on hands over water, before a scene of the sea concludes the short.
Although it is difficult to understand what is going on in the film (the synopsis is a necessity in this case), the power deriving from the images and the movements of the hands is indisputable, as it is compelling, with Pompi Paul's choreography being quite impressive, considering the limitations he had to work with. The lack of color, voices and, in essence, characters, allows the viewer to focus on these movements, with the same applying to the intervals between each one, which are presented in the form of brief, completely blank screens.
As usually with experimental films, reviewing them is quite hard and the fact remains that this kind of productions seem to be better suited for art installations/exhibitions. However, after I finished watching the film, I felt something moving inside me, and although I am not sure why or what it was, it was definitely a welcomed feeling.
