Filmed on a Super 8 at Lim Chu Kang, 4-minute “One Day in Lim Chu Kang” focuses on the concept of exhumation and its socioeconomical implications. According to the award winning director, In land scarce Singapore, graves have been exhumed to make way for apartment blocks, roads and an airbase. My grandfather's remains have since been cremated and now resides in a columbarium.
“One Day in Lim Chu Kang” is screening at Vienna Shorts
In that fashion and in evidently low-fi, the movie begins showing a long shot of a family moving away from a field, where a number of excavators and trucks have occupied the premises of a Singapore cemetery. The next frame shows an elderly couple standing at the grave of a deceased relative, while a worker begins the procedure of exhumation. He starts taking out the bones, which he places first in a red plastic bucket and then in a bag with a number and a name. In the meantime, and as indicated by the close-ups, the couple are looking in the proceedings in sadness and silence, probably realizing that what is happening is inevitable.
Probably the most intense aspect of the short is the difference in attitude between the couple and the worker. The couple are obviously devastated by the whole procedure, which is quite grotesque no matter how you see it. The worker on the other hand, is completely desensitized, probably because this is a job he has already done numerous times, and for him, it is just that, a job.
Michael Kam's camera captures all the aforementioned with realism, even if the low quality of the image does become somewhat tiring. The editing results in a relatively fast tempo through the many cuts, which actually points towards the silent movies of the past.
The comments about the whole thing are also palpable, as progress in the name of capitalism (the construction that is about to happen in the area) is displacing tradition (the whole funeral concept), essentially saying that the past has no place in this time anymore. Furthermore, the issue with space Singapore faces also comes to the fore. On the other hand, one could easily think that perhaps it is time for everyone to start burning their dead, since concepts like the one presented in the movie are not exactly uncommon throughout the world, as the number of graves steadily keep rising, with the pandemic making the whole issue even worse.
“One Day in Lim Chu Kang” serves as a poignant exploration of the collision between progress, tradition, and the inevitable changes brought about by socioeconomic factors. The film invites contemplation on the delicate balance between preserving the past and embracing the demands of the present, leaving audiences to ponder the significance of the choices we make as a society in the face of a changing world.
