Ravel is amazing to look at. I rarely use the term “A feast for the eyes” because that’s a terrible and lame cliché that I’d be ashamed to ever use, but in this case I’ll make an exception. It really is worth it to do so.
You wouldn’t think watching a woman drag half a dozen or so bottles tied around her through the desert for seven minutes could be enthralling to watch. Yet that’s the long and short of it. The sky is blue, her dress is black, the bottles are clear, and the desert is always there. Who is this woman? Why is she walking in the desert? Why does she have bottles attached to her? Why does she occasionally stop and string them up to trees, leaving them to dangle in the wind like the aftermath of a lynching?
These are all questions that don’t need an answer, because you won’t ask yourself any questions while watching this. You’ll only stare at the jaw-dropping gorgeous visuals and let yourself be swallowed up whole by the thick atmosphere. It really is something to behold. Remember the desert scenes in Lawrence of Arabia? Imagine that… but not quite like that.
I love it when a movie surprises me like this. I wasn’t expecting anything from Ravel, but it provided for an excellent viewing experience. It was as satisfying as a having one of those incredibly vivid dreams that you have to tell someone about the next day after you wake up. It has no dialogue, barely any audio at all, actually, beyond the sound of wind and some music that is almost indistinguishable from the wind. All of this combines to create something truly inspiring and magnificent. I really enjoyed myself.
I wish I could talk some more about it, but the story is such a stripped down affair and the film itself so short that I’ve more or less run out of things to say. This may be a simplistic review, but this is not a simple film. It has depth and poetry to it, and is much more than the sum of its parts. I won’t lie and say I’ll talk about it for years to come, but I will refer to it every now and then when I talk about really great shorts. It’s just that sort of a film.
