Bilal Hussain’s seventh short film “The Wheelchair and the Trap” follows the director’s interest in the crime genre centering around the character of detective Michelle Pederson (Theresa Sovig Poulsen). The 18 minutes short feature depicts how protagonist Michelle naiveté and trust turn into mistrust, and her journey to recover from the backstabbing of a colleague Farhad Kazemi (Edwin Barandarou), set her up and runs an illegal weapon smuggling business. The romance and role of the family are present themes and in the subplots too. The plot is simple, along with the message it conveys.
The opening scene elicited a romantic short feature. Film’s two characters are throwing balls in bowling lanes, and the camera captures who targets better. These are early signs beyond the personal relationship to open up further, and another intriguing element is present. The following scenes take place in the office, bar, suburban shipping area, and leading to the scene in which Michelle is injured. Farhad’s tone, rhythm, and cunning hesitations are the hallmark of his acting early on. Michelle’s character seems too eager and too trusting. She shows her fierce side when confronting Nick, who is an employee of the same security firm. There is a flash-forward to six-months after the incident. Now, Michelle is trapped in a wheelchair. She is physically debilitated, and she turns into drinking and arguments with her mother. In the classic tripartite storytelling, Michelle is in the revenge and contemplation mode. Finally, Michelle trusts her mother, more genuine trust, and recovers the injury. The last part of “The Wheelchair and the Trap”, which takes us ten years forward, is surprisingly open-ended. Michelle wants to confront Farhad, who is ahead of everyone and almost in control of the business. She seems to be failing, but she has matured up. The side characters, Roya, who supports Michelle’s recovery, Ali and Susan, who are both outmaneuvered by Farhad, are well-developed though playing minimal roles in the whole plot. Michelle’s acting is another strong element, especially her facial expression and depiction of innocent naiveté.
On a deeper thematic level, the story can be seen as a struggle of evil forces and well represented by two characters- Michelle and Farhad. The setting is local, but the message is universal. Friendship and trust turn upside down when power and money come into the equation. The audience can easily associate with these dramatic elements. They could also associate with the role of mother in Michelle’s recovery. Maybe too simple and unsophisticated. This depiction could be a feature and liability for the film to assume that the world of criminality and characters are too simple. The audience may expect a bit more shrewdness on the part of Michelle. The other side is the representation of the female character. Feminists could easily object that she is gazed and downgraded as the weaker character. Her mother indeed supported her recovery, but she could have been represented more robustly in a male-dominated world. The Persian names are other noticeable features. Not only Farhad and Ali look Middle Eastern, but they seem to speak Danish correctly, and its higher positions and fully integrated. Hussein could have thought of depicting a cosmopolitan Denmark in which beyond criminality and the darker side of the world, there is a bright story of diversity.
The Wheelchair and the Trap are a short and straightforward feature, but it targets a common occurrence; in a society driven by corrupt values. Farhad’s character could be an archetype for masculinity poisoned by the corruption of money and status. Though simplistic as argued, Michelle’s character is a reminder of a female subject who may have some friend and network support in her life but dominated by wolfs who cares nothing for her expertise and subjectivity. The binary world that Bilal Hussein depicts in this short film is not too exaggerated but could have portrayed more layers leading to exposing dysfunctional ties and web of relationships.
Grade: B+
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