THEM | Director Robin Lochmann | Germany | Narrative | 14 MIN
Screened on the AIFF website in July 2021
In a grey and distraught village, where everyone looks the same, a golden-headed man, the color of the flowing river, proclaims himself leader. Gradually he amasses a following with people painting their heads gold as a symbol of their allegiance to him. Several of the villagers look on with disapproval and stay aloof. These holdouts become outcasts, beaten, and marginalized. To survive, they escape from the village and hideout, forming a group of their own. Out of this group emerges a leader with a blue head, demanding allegiance whereupon the followers paint their heads blue.
Now the war is on between the gold and blue-headed people, fighting till the paint begins dissolving by a downpour of rain, leaving everyone looking alike, therefore lost.
The location could be anywhere, the language is made up, it could be a primitive society, a dystopian one, or a fantasy one. It doesn't really matter because the story always remains the same. We don't know how these groups form nor their individual characteristics; the only thing that is clear, they have separated themselves into groups by the color of their heads.
Looking the same dissolved this war, but how can everyone look the same and not feel lost? Identity and belonging are inherent to the human being, guided by a symbolic illusion that structures their reality, we don't know what to expect when the absence of it comes.
The certain thing THEM tells us is the divided and antagonized world is held together by the same tendencies, the willingness to belong and be led, and the need of others to lead. But where is everyone going without their colors? If identity is the result of identification, what are they going to do without their primary one? After the rain comes, how will society regroup? Isn't unification the downside of leaving every particularity behind fostering the disappearance of singularities?
"We could all use a little more self-doubt and curiosity toward understanding our opposites", says director Robin Lochman. Combining different digital and analog technologies, handmade and experimental, results in a beautifully crafted film that feels as personal as universal. THEM meets its intentions, leaving questions unanswered and room to reflect, one of the most ambitious things we can hope for today.
Written by Carla Chasco
Film Critic
Argentina
Carla Chasco is an art critique specializing in film, from Buenos Aires Argentina, currently studying curatorial studies degree at UNA. She has previously worked as a costume designer but nowadays is advocated the other side of the film.