SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW! Fans of Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy will appreciate this. In one of the later books, he introduced a cloaking device or a SEP field. SEP stood for “someone else’s problem.” I was reminded of this concept after watching Rikke Gregersen and Trond Arntzen’s short film, The Affected.
Getting on an airplane is already a tense situation. This particular flight out of Norway is made even more anxious when a passenger discovers that an Afghan refugee on the flight is being deported. Knowing that he’ll be returned to a death sentence in Afghanistan, she refuses to take her seat and stands in the aisle preventing the plane from taking off.
“…returned to a death sentence in Afghanistan, she refuses to take her seat…”
The camera flashes around to conversations between various passengers, flight crew members, and the pilots. While the pilot wants to do his job and take off, the vast majority of the crew and passengers stand in solitary with the refugee(?). Revealing any details of the story would deny you of the fun of Gregersen and Arntzen’s 12-minute film.
The Affected is a satire about woke culture and, quite frankly, our passive outrage, concern, and often lack of knowledge of any real facts. I love shorts that poke fun at people who take themselves too seriously. It’s not that the issue in question isn’t serious, but it’s our response to the situation that is. That is what makes this short so funny and engaging.
The Affected screened at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.
"…a satire about woke culture and, quite frankly, our passive outrage..."
