Protest

Following up on the also very short The Totalitarian Blueberry, Wagner produces Protest, a slightly disturbing movie focusing on a prison cell shared by an anti-abortion protester and a rapist. The short follows the conversation between the pair, and at times, it can get rather chilling, as you wonder why these two, very different people are sharing the same cell. While The Totalitarian Blueberry was admittedly a cleaner and more sound effort, Protest had a bigger impact, and it is a pity to see a couple of avoidable flaws creep in and spoil it a little, but that is what you have got to expect when there is a deadline. Still, Wagner delivers in producing a satisfactory, cold, short drama, which I recommend.

Yet again, Wagner’s biggest strength, his script, shows. There was more than enough in the script to turn your attention away from the average-looking surroundings, and there was enough to make you fall silent as you eagerly want to hear the rapist’s hard, controlling responses to the protester’s friendly comments. Such a contrast between these two characters is evident, and you start to worry for the protester as the conversation pans out. Despite the tense atmosphere, there are a couple of lines that contain a little bit of humour. Whether Wagner was hoping to achieve some ‘black’ laughs intentionally or whether he was trying to just lighten up the atmosphere, I don’t quite know, but either way, I felt a little bad on the two occasions I smiled and, as a result, I was even more sympathetic towards the protester. Was this the desired effect the director hoped to have on the viewers? Whatever the answer, the chipped-in humour works well, and creates extra impact to what is going on, emphasizing the harshness of the cold rapist.

But the script did not come without any flaws. My biggest problem with it is that it’s too short, and I felt Protest could have done with a few more lines in between, extending the runtime, and add further emphasis to the alarming contrast between the two criminals. In addition, the protester towards the end perhaps appeared too laid-back, and incorporating some fear into his lines might have had me feeling for him more, and hence, make the short more effective. I could well be wrong and there may be a good reason why Wagner wrote those lines as they are, but you will probably see where I’m coming from when you watch the movie; I’m not keen on spoiling the whole story, as I know there will be some people reading this review who won’t have seen the film. The ending too felt a little too sudden. This was probably more of a direction flaw than a script one, as seeing a still, dull, face-on shot followed by “The End” can’t have done the ending any justice to the final line.

Technically, the prison cell looks competent enough, but one thing that bugged me slightly was the slightly large pauses in between each line. This was probably my computer’s fault, running the movie faster than Wagner intended it to, but nevertheless, it did slightly spoil the experience. All in all though, this was a fairly solid short from Wagner. There are some noticeable flaws which could have been fixed, if, without the pressure of releasing it for the 2005 Summer Film Festival, there was more time, but apart from that, if you appreciate good writing, or enjoyed The Totalitarian Blueberry, and you have a few minutes to spare, you can’t go much wrong with downloading and watching Protest.