Mala Svetlost (Little Light) Short Film

 Mala Svetlost (Little Light)

Mala Svetlost, (1966) also known as Little Light is set in Yugoslavia. It is a story about a boy who hates his shadow. This boy is a relatively young age, maybe 9 or 10. He tries everything he can to get rid of his shadow. He runs away from it, tries to hide it in the dark, runs it over with a train, shuts it out by closing a door on it. But it is always there. He becomes so unnerved by this shadow that constantly follows him around. But it is always there with him. Like a friend, but only one you cannot talk to.

Eventually his shadow leads him to a girl who is also very close to his age. She is not trying to kill the shadow, but is rather walking in tandem with it. Giving the boy a new perspective on his shadow. The shadow is not there to hurt you, it is there to comfort you and bring happiness to your life. He eventually comes to terms with his shadow and starts to follow the girl like a shadow as well. Doing the same things that the girl does, walking with her, and eventually finding some infatuation with this girl. They run through the sand together eventually with the film ending with them reaching the horizon where they continue to play. This whole film is connected with an ecstatic composition by Dusan Radic. Which brings suspense but also a jolly tone to the short 10 minute film. The camera work is also phenomenal with quality galore. At first glance it seems like a relatively stupid movie. Some kids run around and eventually become friends. But people fail to realize that these stories also have meaning to them and they're not here to suck. 

Some standout features of this film was when the boy drew a box around his shadow and added a cat inside to make it disappear in chalk on a wall. As in jailing the 2d being. Which obviously fails, but to me it is stuff like this that puts how much the boy resents his shadow into perspective.  But the box around the shadow with the cat also alludes to Schrogingers cat. Which says that the shadow is alive but it also isn't. Which I find very interesting. 

Another thing that I liked about the movie was the locations that they decided to shoot in. The architecture was so pretty. But yet it was desolate. There were only 3 people in the movie, but yet they had the ability to use these spaces of art to create even more art which is amazing to me. 

Anyways I rate this film a 7.8/10. It is really good and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in short silent films with excellent storytelling and great acting. It reminded me of a lot of Gucia which I covered before. 

Here is the link to the film to watch: Mala Svetlost