Following the award-winning mobile film “Monsoon Clips”, Diganta Dey decided to continue on the same path with “Bare Foot”, which has already had an extensive festival run, including a distinction in One Earth Awards.
“Bare Foot” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative
With the under title “My India” setting the tone of the 2-minute short, the film begins with the sound of a cello playing, while the view from a window is depicted on screen, in black-and-white, and text on screen begins a “story” that starts with “This is my Country”. The film follows the same pattern, with the sound of cello, the images and the under text, in what appears to be a critique of the overall system in India. An image of a broken elevator screen, for example, reads that “the rule of supply and demand suffers” , the image of a camera talks about surveillance, etc. The form is broken by an intermission that urges the audience to listen to the music, while a splash of color concludes the movie, also connecting the narrative with the title.
Diganta Dey's message about India today, particularly the lack of space, surveillance, the issues of the financial system etc are essentially given through text, with the images following what is written on screen, through captions by a mobile phone. The message does come through, but it is neither unique nor particularly artistic, with the whole thing emerging essentially as a series of mobile-phome videos glued together. The presence of music and the eventually change into colored video adds an element of artistry, which is definitely not enough though.
As such, “Bare Foot” emerges as an effort at filmmaking and not filmmaking exactly, which is unfortunate, considering that Dey's previous short, “Monsoon Clip” was definitely on a much higher level. The experimental approach is evident, but experiments do not always work and this is the case with the present short. Perhaps Dey should try and find some funding before moving forward
