Swimming along the waves of depression In 1987, Nikos Nikolaidis, perhaps the most prominent Greek director of modern times, visualized his own apocalyptic vision of the future in Morning Patrol. After 10 years in his footsteps went Nikos Cornilios, decided, apparently, that the world of Nikolaidis is not dark and black enough, and he still has a lot to strive for. And shot another version of the end of the world, even more hopeless, even more deserted, even dead. Leaving intact the post-urban landscapes of his predecessor (sometimes it seems that his director shot the film in the same locations as his more venerable compatriot), he deprived the picture of action that maintained the appearance of life in the dying world of the Patrol, and left only a yearning for the vanished past, pouring on each frame a depression so thick that even the most cheerful viewer will drown in it. Unless, of course, he runs away after the first shot.
One of the critics who wrote about Desert Sky (under this title the film was shown at international festivals), called the picture a vivid example of the fetishization of darkness. Although the word “bright” in this case will be inappropriate, since in this epithet emotions are heard, life boils or even death reigns, and in Cornilios’ painting there is only Nothing, slowly absorbing feelings, desires and, finally, memory into a gray hole. Instead of people, only shells remain, mechanically performing habitual actions, the meaning of which has long been lost. True, among the shadows left of the vanished world, there are still those who cling to the vanished with the rags of their soul, but they no longer have a future (and a past), and therefore their desperate attempts are only a means that the author uses to whip up anguish.
No, of course, there are films that consciously cause the viewer even more negative emotions: remember at least “Letters of a Dead Man” by Lopushansky or “Go and See” by Klimov. But there is a catharsis, there is a desire to push the viewer away from the opposite towards the Light, and here ... There is a complete immersion in Nothing, Nowhere and Never. In keeping with the City, created by the imagination of Cornilios, the notorious Silent Hill looks like a sparkling lights Luna Park. And even more thickens the darkness of the “Desert Sky” awareness of the fact that the director showed the death of a completely non-transcendental world, operated not with macrocosmic concepts. Immanent only seems not so significant in the size of the universe. What if this is the inner world of God, which perishes completely and irrevocably, dragging with it all that He created?
In the world of the "Desert Sky" there was a catastrophe. What? Cornilios doesn't care at all. Let's say God died. And as a result of this cataclysm, only a handful of people remained in the City... and not a single child. There's no water, there's no food, but sometimes army trucks bring everything you need. However, they cannot restore the memory of the people. They can't get their kids back. Which, of course, were — the main character Fotini from the daughter left photos, toys and growth marks on the doorjamb — but where and when? Now she hears sometimes children's laughter and even sees a child sitting with his father on a bench. But the house is empty, and returning to the cherished place, she sees only an unpainted circle where her daughter and father sat a second ago. Children are the future and there is no future.
At least Fotini knows who she is and remembers she had a past life. In the hospital, where she works out of habit, lies a girl who does not remember this. Her brother, Ajax, reads Hamlet's monologue in an empty theater hall, and tries to "remember" her sister. To materialize her memory. But when he succeeds for a brief moment, tragedy ensues. After all, even fragments of the past that have not yet disappeared in the gray haze are unbearable for those who return from there. The feeling that arises between Fotini and Ajax in the finale, of course, can be perceived as hope, but rather it looks like a kind of concession of the author not to the viewer even – to critics, to whom it is necessary to serve something “reasonable”, “good”, “eternal”. Although it is obvious to Cornilios himself that eternity is equivalent to nothingness. And his film, in the end, is perceived as an allegory of the immersion of consciousness into this very non-existence. In the same immanent collapse.
However, even a modest plot does not mean that there is an action in Desert Sky. Dialogues with monologues are also minimal, except for the recitations of Ajax. If life has collapsed, where does action and conversation come from? But black and white plans of the deserted city - for every taste: general, medium, and zoom in the most detailed resolution. Anything to emphasize the void. All to create an atmosphere of depression and despair. Why? Honestly, I don't have an answer. Perhaps, if there was, Cornelius's film would be much more famous in the cinematic world. But it seems that the goals of the director were not only misunderstood by me. Although the visual solutions of his painting, at times, cause admiration, and the anguish they overtake, feels quite real. And, perhaps, together they can cause a cleansing catharsis and knock out a wedge from a person entangled in psychological problems. But you have to ask a psychologist. I wouldn’t recommend watching Desert Sky for a person who is inclined to reflect. In order not to accidentally disappear into the Void.