Aftermath (1994)

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Movie
German title Aftermath
Original title Aftermath
Country of production Spain
original language Spanish
Publishing year 1994
length 31 minutes
Age rating FSK unchecked
Rod
Director Nacho Cerdà
script Nacho Cerdà
production Nacho Cerdà,
Joseph Maar
music Requiem (Mozart)
camera Christopher Baffa
cut Raul Almanzan
occupation

Aftermath is a half-hour horror film by Spanish director Nacho Cerdà from 1994, which deals with death and necrophilia .

action

First, the viewer becomes an observer of two forensic doctors . They carry out autopsies on two male corpses separately from one another . After one of the doctors present leaves the room, the protagonist discovers the corpse of a young, provocatively dressed woman named Marta Arnau Martí .

He takes this to the autopsy, where he then mutilates her with a knife, which he rams into her vagina several times . The forensic doctor then raped the dead woman while taking photos of himself with the self-timer. Then he completes the autopsy, but takes the woman's heart home with him. There he purees it and feeds it to his dog while he relaxes in front of the television.

production

Due to lack of money and authenticity, Aftermath was not shot in a film set, but in a real morgue in Barcelona. Director and screenwriter Cerdá adapted the script and storyboard to the location while writing.

Film analysis

The film does not contain any dialogues, just an introductory monologue. The story is told very slowly and in great detail. The artistic focus is on the visual implementation. Most of the pictures are held in cold, blue light, from which the red and orange tones of the body fluids stand out clearly. Although the film does not shy away from showing blood and guts, the camera work still creates an artistic censorship of what is shown.

Through the clear cinematic representation, Cerdá tried to reverse the sympathies of the audience. Cerdá said about the camera work that he wanted to make the dead look alive and the living look dead by showing his protagonist only in parts, but the corpses in close-up shots of their faces. He described Aftermath as a film against violence, which, however, can only achieve its effect through the detailed representation of it.

criticism

The reactions to Aftermath varied widely. While the American film critic Chas Balun described the film as pornographic after the press screening - it went further than it was narrative necessary - other critics called the film a “masterpiece of film art” and a “relentless and sincere art film that breaks taboos, but never withers into a provocative film that is an end in itself ”.

Awards

Aftermath won the 1997 Fantasia Festival award for best short film.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Donato Totaro: Nacho Cerda Interview. August 13, 1997, accessed August 23, 2010 .
  2. ^ Benjamin Johann: Aftermath (1994). Retrieved August 23, 2010 .