Worth: $12.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Leo Rivera, David Requena, Gorka Otxoa
Intro:
…worth checking out…
Told via a series of police interrogations and flashbacks, Re-evolution is an Anarcho-syndicalist techno thriller where four young Spanish men, whose lives are irrevocably altered by the financial crisis in the EU, feel that the economic system is corrupted, benefitting only the rich and controlled by only a handful of people. Doni (Leo Rivera), Fele (David Requena), Jack (Gorka Otxoa) and Max (Hovik Keuchkarian) have each experienced relationship turmoil, depression and job loss, related to the crumbling economy and are galvanised into action by a plan devised by Doni. They take up arms and devise to hijack a TV satellite broadcast facility in order to broadcast their ‘manifesto’ to the world: a plan to replace 90% of government regulatory bodies and institutions with an online management system called ‘Atlas’ (there are a number of Ayn Rand references littered throughout the film) that utilises user votes to democratise the process of government spending, politicians’ salaries and large-scale decisions.
Shot on a shoestring budget (something that’s stated at the film’s beginning) the budget amounted to only a few thousand dollars Australian. Shooting a feature for what most short films would consider a small budget is no mean feat, and filmmaker David Sousa Moreau uses every asset at his disposal to convey his clearly heartfelt political message, so on that level the film strikes a very meta tone. It’s nicely edited for the most part though the art of concealing your sources eludes the director at times and his affinity for Michael Mann and the tropes of US action thrillers in general, shows its cards early.
That said, this is an interesting watch, given the unusual production circumstances and it’s a testament to the sheer willpower of the filmmaker to pull the necessary resources together, particularly given the third act TV news street protest sequences and TV station hijacking.
As a call-to-arms for young idealistic filmmakers with a lack of resources, it’s definitely worth checking out; as a polemic on how to change the society in which we live, it’s perhaps not something deeply felt by the Australian public but then again, we haven’t endured the brunt of the financial crisis like those in the EU.
