To say that the film is poignant would be an understatement. What would be apt instead is to call it an accurate portrayal of the raw, visceral fear of being a colored person in a predominantly white nation, where racial identity could mean vastly different things in the same, seemingly mundane situation. The film’s glorious success lies in communicating this without explicitly spelling out any of it. The entire action of the narrative comes to revolve around a single phone call, structured most expertly to engage the viewer even before they realise it. Soon, you find yourself unwittingly becoming part of the emotional unraveling of a mother as she breaks down over the safety of her son. In that moment, she is any and all of us who have ever found their security threatened simply because they belonged to a specific gender, race, religion or nation. If the purpose of art is to disturb and lead to reformative action, this film is art in the truest sense. Insightful, meticulous and brilliant in its exploration of the identity of the marginalised, the Other and the discriminated against, the film does an impeccable job of disorienting your deepest sense of order and safety, introducing you to a disconcerting reality in the process.

One Of Us | Short Film of the Day

Poetry is a powerful tool for the revolution of thought, one that is capable of making you sit up, pay attention and bring reformative change. The aspiration for this reform also rests at the heart of the Black Lives Matter movement which shook the world in 2020 as it went ahead to explicitly state what should be a well-accepted fact - someone with a darker skin tone does not mean they deserve to be discriminated against or are any less worthy of equality. What the narrative of the film does is add to the same conversation, raising pressing, politically-charged questions, but with the lyricism of poetry. It is marked by music and dance, suggesting a fluid, free-flowing space of expression as a woman moves gracefully in the vast expanse of a field. Unfortunately, when it comes to racial identity, this freedom still remains a pipe-dream. However, in the face of systemic oppression, the ideas of equality, freedom and justice will reign free. The black experience will not be obliterated by the weapons of a discriminatory few, becomes the overarching message of the narrative, along with the reminder to take the first step, which might sometimes also mean looking within. No act of change, as small as it might be, is inconsequential, further asserts the film, leaving you with a poignantly moving sense of hope.

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