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My brain was flooded with contradictions and a sense of unbelief at what I was seeing, and I found myself completely focused on the moment, almost forgetting to breathe.
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Wesens is an independent Afrikaans film about a group of four South African Republican Intelligence agents who are sent to investigate a UFO-like object that has mysteriously landed on a farm in the Karoo.
A few minutes into the film, you realise it is going to be different. And it is – pleasantly so. There are no flashy special effects and over-the-top action sequences to overwhelm the senses – which does not mean your senses are not stimulated.
Quite the opposite.
Through thought-provoking dialogue that is not forced and periods of eerie silence, the film allows your imagination to run rampant. You continually experience a level of ominous, macabre-like discomfort – anticipating a scare of some sort – which catches you off guard every time.
Using the found footage technique to tell the story works very well. A 4:3 aspect ratio keeps your focus on what is relevant, and you don’t find your eyes wondering all over a wide screen with too many distracting visual cues. It creates a feeling of intimacy, allowing you the opportunity to explore every character in detail.
Derick suffers from motion sickness and knew from the start that he would not incorporate any shaky shots, which have become synonymous with the found footage genre. This stands Wesens in good stead, as it is a slow burn. The use of steady shots left me feeling hypnotised, and I found myself in a daze when the end credits started to roll. Very few films have had that effect on me.
I do feel that there could have been a little more dialogue between the characters – something along the line of Quentin Tarantino’s style. There are certainly opportunities for this that would have allowed us to delve even deeper into each character’s psyche as the storyline unfolds. Derick writes incredibly well, and adding another layer of complexity through dialogue would have really given him the opportunity to flex his writing skills.
Something many Afrikaans films fail at is dialogue that is not audible. This was not the case with Wesens, and it was very refreshing not to rely on subtitles to follow what the characters were saying. The audio nerd in me did feel that the final mix should have had some grain to it as well – like the visuals did – to make the overall sound more film-like. But that’s just me.
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Simply adding a score to found footage films makes no sense at all, as it would tarnish the experience. Derick bypassed this problem by allowing us to hear music through the radio the agents listened to, further breaking the traditional mould of the found footage genre and adding to the period feel of the film.
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Staying on sound, I have to mention that Derick handled introducing music to the soundtrack in an ingenious manner. Simply adding a score to found footage films makes no sense at all, as it would tarnish the experience. Derick bypassed this problem by allowing us to hear music through the radio the agents listened to, further breaking the traditional mould of the found footage genre and adding to the period feel of the film. Again, from a technical viewpoint, I would have liked to see the sonic introduction of the music done a little differently, by letting us hear it come out of the radio before expanding it into a stereo track. This is an old technique used in audio post that is still relevant in today’s cinema.
The highlight of Wesens, for me, was the second reveal of another “being”. Watching it was both unsettling and fractionating at the same time. My brain was flooded with contradictions and a sense of unbelief at what I was seeing, and I found myself completely focused on the moment, almost forgetting to breathe.
Wesens is a gem, a rebel that successfully challenges traditional Afrikaans filmmaking. It is not for everyone. In fact, I can just imagine the social media comments section by those comfortable with the norm when it hits TV screens. Regardless, Wesens is sure to become a cult classic.
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Kommentaar
Ná ongeveer twintig hoopvolle minute het my bewussyn onder die Karooson verdor, maar toe die verbrande aartappel een van die wesens met Doom spuit, was dit neusie verby vir my.