This movie was a final project from Århus Film-school (Super8) from 2009. I like the obscure, the creative and the different, so bringing reviews like this, however small the effect may be, helps bring focus on new quality, artistic creativity and supports up and coming directors. "Hearts and Minds" is a short movie, around 10 minutes long.
A jeep with three danish UN soldiers, stop when find the road blocked by a car pulled by a donkey. They try to communicate with the fugitive family on the car to make them understand, that they need to go through, since they are on important peace keeping business further ahead. The family do not understand and neither do standers by, who slowly become agitated by the aggression of, particularly one of, the soldiers. They call for a interpreter, but it will take some time for his arrival. The frustrated soldier escalates the situation and ends up shooting the family's granny instead of the donkey and everything goes haywire. The interpreter is in for a surprise when he arrives and the real reason for the blocked road is revealed.
The plot fits the short time-frame ok, but i actually felt that this scenario could have been fleshed out more and gained by it. The escalation of violence goes a little too fast to be really believable, but the ending twist is really good. It fits perfectly with the overall message. And the message is basically that violence always leads to more violence. Disagreements can NEVER be fixed by pointing guns at each other and i am not really sure that the writer or the director actually sense that more than indirectly by focusing on the obvious physical madness of it. The aggressive soldier is very well played by the actor, who´s name I do not know. The female soldier on the other hand is compared to him, surprisingly amateurish. She looks like a 15 year old trying to look tough lighting up a cigaret in a Clint Eastwood fashion. As i pointed out the time-frame could have been extended to flesh out the emotional sides of the other persons and given it a more collective escalation angle.
A fine effort by a newbie director. A good actor performance by one of the soldiers and a very tight plot, gets things done, without any excess fat.
Rating: 4/10
