-Written by Michelle Vorob.
Escape Attempt is an award-winning short film by Alex Topaller and Daniel Shapiro, based on the novel, Escape Attempt, by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. I'll start right off by saying I wish this had been a full length feature and not a short, because it was excellent. It was a sci-fi epic, condensed into a masterpiece that ran less than 30 minutes. I'm not trying to oversell it, however, Escape Attempt hits all the criteria of well-crafted science fiction. We have time travel, a spaceship, and an allegorical tale, all done with panache. Nothing feels outlandish, silly, or overdone.
Saul (Andrzej Chyra), a history professor, sits in what appears to be a futuristic “airport” or transportation waiting area of some sort. His mind flashes to an escape through barbed wire, away from Nazi soldiers. Saul has escaped the WWII Holocaust by traveling through time. We don't see the mechanics of how, we only know it has happened.
Saul needs some air. He goes outside and sees a young couple prepping their spaceship for take-off. The young woman, Anna (Anna Burnett) sees that Saul needs help and goes to him. He wants passage. Away from everyone and everything. He wants to be taken to an uninhabited planet, where he can live in peace.
The ship seemed pretty serene to me, but of course, the point of the movie was not a space version of a road trip, nor was Saul going to become the resident ship's historian [although I would've liked that]. Saul was on a collision course of sorts; one that would put him in a very familiar situation. One he could not escape.
You see, when they arrive at what is supposed to be Saul's new and uninhabited home, they quickly find dead people all over the ground, wearing nothing but burlap sacks. The young couple, Anna and Vadim (Ieuan Coombs) want to help. They want to gather medical supplies and look for survivors. Saul cautions them; he knows whatever else they find will only be worse and the people they find will not be welcoming of them.
Nevertheless, they walk until they come upon a settlement. Watching this movie was a visual experience. The “alien” trains and “alien” work camp looked hauntingly familiar. The captive “alien” laborers were described as “animal” and “criminal” by the camp guards, even though their only crime was existing.
The guards cannot be reasoned with. The prisoners cannot be rescued. Saul fights. He blows up some of the train cars. It's spectacular, but he knows he's fighting a losing battle. They need to leave while they can. Saul tells Anna and Vadim he needs to go back to his own time, back to where he came from.
Saul goes back to the moment he first escaped, back to the grounds with other prisoners and Nazi guards coming after them, out of the woods. Saul has a gun this time and fights like hell.
I give away some details to bring up a point; in a situation such as this, are we seeing something real, or a fantasy of that character? Did Saul really time travel, or did his mind temporarily remove him from the horror he was living?
Escape Attempt is haunting, spectacular, and a great work of sci-fi.
Directed by Alex Topaller & Daniel Shapiro
Written by Christina Lazaridi, Alex Topaller & Daniel Shapiro, Victor Topaller, Boris Strugatsky, & Arkady Strugatsky.
Starring Andrzej Chyra, Anna Burnett, Ieuan Coombs, Piotr Witkowski, Piotr Pacak, etc.
9/10 = DROP EVERYTHING AND WATCH IT NOW
Comments