Bartul Marusic’s Pegasos is a documentary-fiction-art film that attempts to delve into complex issues such as assisted suicide, mental and women’s health, family law, and the dangers of an over-reliance on social networking. That’s a lot of ground to cover in a forty-five-minute picture, but all the bases are covered. We follow a myriad of characters in a visual collage captured in various styles and mediums. Some were captured classically, while others adopted a more cell phone verité style.
There are depictions of families falling apart and families reuniting. There are characters dealing with complicated situations and emotions interspersed with music videos and panoramic cityscapes. There are needle drops from the likes of Simply Red, doing his cover of If You Don’t Know Me by Now, to Elton John. But, the problem with this picture, for all it seeks to illustrate, it does so in too much of a fractured fashion.
“…attempts to delve into complex issues such as assisted suicide…”
None of the tales encompassed in the whole are made clear except in their conclusions. I have seen films about assisted suicide in the past, and it is indeed a topic of controversy and gravity when pertaining to those seeking it to escape the confinements of an inescapable malady, as well as the turmoil it places on those close to and who assist those looking to end their life in said fashion.
Pegasos, though noble in its intentions, makes some moments that should be their nature be impactful and, sometimes, spiritual, appear mildly comical in their approach. Granted, with indie cinema, as with all cinema, time and money are against the artist. But this story needed a more experienced hand on the wheel, which is disappointing, as the project’s premise held so much promise.
"…for all it seeks to illustrate, it does so in too much of a fractured fashion."
