Movie : Into oneself
Director : Guilherme Rosa
The Sufi poet Rumi wrote :
” The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”
Into oneself exemplifies the strength that lies within mankind. A force that has the capacity of demolishing the tupor of falsities. Into oneself is the story of Irene, a woman who is evidently ravaged by some unknown and painful experience. An experience that has caused a devastating effect on her life. Irene is accompanied by a shadow. Something she is oblivious about. The shadow is both Irene’s object of glee and her dagger of despair. Irene finds morbid kind of comfort in him. The fatal tool of the shadow is its determined perpetuity.
A potent force from the dark is slowly and gradually taking Irene down the rabbit hole of madness. She seeks help from someone who refers her to a shaman. Having nowhere else to go, an indigenous ritual becomes Irene’s final resort. She finds the only glimmer of hope left (that is left in her) in the spells, the lessons, and the rituals performed by the shaman.
The movie appeals to look past one’s acute sense of scepticism and perhaps dive deep into the labyrinth of her mind. The entire process , as the title suggests is an attempt to look within.
A world that simultaneously resides within us. A world of shadows, a world of lost memories and forgotten dreams.
The world of Irene and Carlos is one full of turbulent circumstances. Most of which lead to the path of agony.
The performances in the movie are worth a mention. The plot never loses the relatability factor. The characters appear believable in their vulnerabilities and their confusions. The state of Irene draws genuine attention towards her and perhaps a little pity as well.
The cinematography is marked by an impeccable use of light and shadow in the movie. Elements like fire and earth have been dexterously incorporated in the movie. The flames adding an exponential amount of intensity to the scenes.
The initial scene depicts the journey of Irene from a vociferous world of concrete ossifications to the profound world of nature.
The juxtaposition of tranquility around chaos has been done in an adroit fashion in the movie.
The mystery intensifies as the story proceeds forward. It is a thriller of the highest proportions.
The movie depicts the bridge that exists between Irene and her soul. A bridge that is fraught with impediments. However, the bridge must exist between Irene’s conscious and her unconscious. It must prevent her from falling into the dungeon of madness.
The observations of the shaman about life, memory and consciousness serve a vital role in the narrative. They are realizations attained after some serious reflection on the inner being, the desire to hold onto everything and everyone lost and the urge to escape death.
He believed that the mind lied in order to play tricks on us.
Further, like the Buddha, he also believed that Suffering is inevitable in the circle or life and death. He then asks Irene to drink something. Later she finds herself in a strange place where she loses track of Carlos. She falls asleep after a spell is cast upon her by a mysterious woman. She recognises a strange metamorphosis in her life post her physical and spiritual awakening.
