ON HOW LIFE CAN CHANGE FROM "ONE SECOND TO THE NEXT"

Something occurred to me as I was watching One second to the next. We really, really need to get more “big” directors to make public information and safety type films. No, really. Because if they did, we would watch them. They would hit home. And it would do one heck of a lot more good. You’ll know what I mean when you watch One second to the next. I mean, I don’t drive, but I do see the attraction of texting while driving. I also see how “naff” the info films are. And ok, a lot of us actually have the common sense and sensibility to not do silly stuff like that but for those who cannot resist temptation… Just watch this documentary. It’s a short fella, only just over half an hour. I’ll bet good money it’ll scare you back to the straight and narrow for good though.

One Second to the next is a typical Werner Herzog documentary. This is meant as a warning and to whet your appetite. I love the work of Herzog but typically you exit the experience feeling as if you have been hit by a truck. And while this is a slightly unfortunate euphemism for this particular work, it completely describes the feeling it gives. It may seem surprising at first as the whole work is a little more than a series of tastefully edited talking head style interviews. Interviews with victims and perpetrators of traffic accidents that were caused by a driver texting and driving. As is typical of Herzog, we completely and impartially see both sides of the tale; the misery and regret of the drivers who have more often than not accidentally taken human life and the grieving families or the victims, left mere shells of the people they used to be. We hear a series of accidents, each accident completed with police photos and a report from the responding officer when possible. Seriously, I defy you to hold back your tears. I couldn’t…

Now, there isn’t much to say about this because… Well, Herzog has done something truly brilliant in stripping back all the trappings, all the frills and leaving us with the story. Gone are “re-enactments”, gone are statistics and reports. There isn’t even a narrator. There is nothing to distract us from the fact that people died. In some cases children as young as three. And this could have been prevented by one, ridiculously simple choice. The choice to look where you’re going. It puts us face to face with the tragedy that is the loss of any human life and, much like the agonised perpetrators and victims / families of victims, there is nowhere to hide from the wave of emotion. The only thing is we can shake ourselves, have a cup of coffee, maybe write a blog post about it – maybe not – but the point is we can get on with our lives. They however, cannot.  I think the least we can do under the circumstances is face up to that pain squarely and honestly, without averting our eyes in any way. That and not texting while driving.

Ok, this post is actually a little different from the rest or previous ones. Because I normally suggest the films and then leave you to your own devices as far as finding them go. I do recognise though that this is not your average film. We are lucky that one of my favourite websites on the interwebs, Film School Rejects, has said film on their website, ready for your delectation. If you like the sound of the above film, this is the link to follow : CLICK HERE

And if you didn’t like the sound of it, well, follow it anyway.   It’s an awesome site with news, reviews and other short films. If you’re a movie buff – well  you probably know about it already actually – but if not… well, it’s high time you discovered it!