Oscar Perez: Ventrada
Nothing happens. Or a lot happens. Up to you as audience. It depends on how you define ”a story”. In mainstream definition terms one would say that there is no story, and yet here is an outline of the short documentary shot in the countryside near the delta of Ebro:
An old man in an electric wheelchair is the ruler of an old farm with dogs and sheep. From his chair he orders the others around, including the sound man from the film team, when some puppies just born are about to be killed unintentionally by the dog ”bitch”, who protects her litter.
His wife (or sister?) walks into the picture, and another character, an old man who seems to be a bit retarded, is the one that the ruler commands to get rid of most of the puppies leaving only two to live. At the end of the film the camera goes with the ruler on his way into the marshes to follow his sheep. It is almost like a still life, brutal in tone, he is not really likeable, you start wondering about the kind of life he has had, he just sits there without a smile on his stone-face.
A story or a tableau, both I would say. Because of the stubborness/patience/eye of the film director/cameraman who waits to seize the moments. And gets some. Classical documentary observation, and multi-layered like a creative documentary should be.
Spain, 2009, 22 mins.
