In the post-apocalyptic world, planet earth has succumbed to the natural disasters due to climate change. In this Greek short film, ‘Shadows of the World’, directed by Marios P. Papageorgiou, it follows four survivors seeking refuge in the underground while dealing with their confrontations and conflict for survival. This is Mario’s first short film debut and has been released in 2021 and has won many awards in the film festival circuit.
‘Shadows of the World’ combines fantasy and sci-fi elements to this drama, diving into the heart of darkness of man and what the world has become. The scene opens up with a narrative monologue with a person walking down the empty roads covered by tall tries and a hint of the permanent red skies. The film focuses on the four men who appear to be the only survivors of this harsh planet who are traversing in the underground, looking all bloodied and beat up from their prior events shown in flashback stills.
The flashbacks contain beautifully enhanced photos with special effects added such as parallax scrolling to provide depth behind the story of the moving picture, emphasizing the catastrophic events of the world. From to the film’s website, https://shadowsoftheworld-film.com/, it is a story within a story. “An allegorical film about the existence or nonexistence of Man. Confronted with the need and will of Man to live, a question is raised: Does the instinct of survival finally lead us to survival or does it inevitably lead us to our complete destruction?”
The characters confrontations with each other in the film have shown how much trauma these men have gone through in their will to survive from the disasters of the earth. It appears that weeks, or even months, have gone by and each person has reached the brink of disconnect from the real world they once knew. Their ability to trust another person is gone. When they encounter each other, the scene depicts each man’s instinct to survive by attempting to kill each other to live another day.
Each character has been given their own flashbacks of the devastations they went through during climate change. The somber violins of the background music brought out the feelings of sadness and grief that happened in their past. There is virtually no dialogue between the characters, as it is all silent on camera with their actions doing the heavy lifting of the film. They all look like they are on their last breath of their lives and their survival instincts kick in to do anything to stay alive despite the crumbling nature of the world.
The set pieces of the underground scenes are well designed, giving the look of natural destruction in this post-apocalyptic world. The location appears to be shot entirely underground, combined with the dark lighting and coloring of each scene to emphasize the feelings of isolation in its visuals. It truly looked like the world has rapidly deteriorated into full of rubble. The cinematography used a lot of tight shots to focus on each character’s facial expressions of desperation to survive as well as the feelings of claustrophobia in the underground. There was definitely a lot of thought put into the set designs and were effectively used to emphasize the aftermath of natural disasters.
The film also pointed out that one of their actors, Yorgos Konstas, passed away when this film was still being shot and was dedicated to the memory of him. Yorgos was still used as part of the photo story flashbacks while they used a stand-in played by another actor to retain his contributions to the film. It is very nice to that the filmmaker gave credit and recognition where its due and also made every effort to keep Yorgos character in the last film he shot.
With over 20 awards won in the film festival circuit, ‘Shadows of the World’ is one worth watching. This film is recommended for those who love the post-apocalyptic survival themes that provide some thought-provoking moments of climate change and a man’s will to survive. Marios P. Papageorgiou’s short film directional debut has had a successful run so far and no doubt has a bright future ahead for his next projects to come.
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