Hey Everyone! Hope your week has been great so far. For this week's reflective response, I'll be sharing with you a short film I really enjoyed called, "The Landing". Overall, the short film is very interesting, and is the winner of many film festivals! I suggest you watch the short film first before reading on. You can watch it below.
If you've watched it, I hope you've found it quite compelling. If you were confused, the film was about a man named Edward who was revealing his father's secret about what happened at their farm during his childhood in 1960. During that time, it was the Cold War between Midwest America and Eastern Europe/the Soviet Union. Keep in mind that I had to research some of this stuff about the Cold War since I wasn't very familiar with it. It was also the year (1960/1961) where the first man entered space. His name was Yuri Gagarin, and he was a cosmonaut, a Russian astronaut. The film was about the cosmonaut accidentally landing at that farm in America. The boy uncovers writing "CCCP" which stood for The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or the USSR. The father, who was angry about being rejected as a soldier, saw this as an opportunity to become a hero to his country. He kidnaps him, and Edward witnesses his father kill the cosmonaut. Later that night, the father turns on the television and sees that the cosmonaut had safely returned back to Russia. You could infer that the Soviet Union denied that the cosmonaut landed in the wrong country, and they covered up what actually happened (in this story). I think that was a really cool twist to the story. I'll be honest, after watching the trailer and the first 5 minutes or so, I thought this short film was about aliens. I thought this because of the Sci-Fi radio station, and all the comic books Edward was reading. However, I thought it was pretty neat that they tried to lead in the audience with that thought, but then surprise them with a much more serious topic. To sum it up, it was very mysterious, and suspenseful. It really kept me on the edge of my seat, wanting to know more. I think this was mainly because of how the film was structured, its music, and the acting. As you could probably tell, the scenes were alternating between the past and the present. I think this really worked for the film, it kept it captivating to be able to see how Edward reacts to the memories of his past. I think you'll agree with me when I say that the music added a much more dramatic feel. It intensified the moment, even while present Edward was digging the dirt, and while past Edward was going out in the field to see what the whole mystery is. Watch the film again without any sound, and you'll see how big of a difference it makes. The last thing I'd like to talk about is the acting. I thought the acting was great. You could clearly see the emotion on their faces, especially young Edward's fear when his father was going to kill the cosmonaut. The same thing goes for present Edward in the end when he finally uncovers the truth. Overall, I really liked this short film for many reasons. If you haven't watched it already, you can watch it above (and I highly suggest that you do!). Well, that is it for this week's reflective response! Thanks for reading! Bye!
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