The Fall, the new short film from Jonathan Glazer, is nightmare fuel in a post-truth, Trumpian era. It tells the story of a horde of masked men and women hunting a lone masked man in the depths of the night as if it was a sport for the rich. Seemingly random in its release this short film by Glazer is a response to this era we live in where now “fear is ever-present” as the extremes of our society are widening day by day.
What is most striking in this short is its depiction of this nightmare is its release. It played without notice before Live At The Apollo (upwards of 700,000 tune in) on national television. As if to urge the populace to wake up, to crawl out from the depths of night. So we can challenge the wrongs of society before we are hung and displayed, like a trophy.
In its sparsity (there is no dialogue), we are trapped inside our heads, listening to the Mica Levi‘s eerie score of feverish intensity while witnessing the violence that lays behind the mask. It’s no surprise then to see Glazer reference The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters by Goya as to give a face to this masked horde only gives light to those that hunt in the dark. If change doesn’t come this not so distant nightmare of the masked horde will become reality tv, if it isn’t already. The Fall is available on Mubi.
7.5/10: The masks are very direct-to-DVD Scooby Doo
