10 Minutes is a short film contrasting the life of a Japanese tourist in to the life of a Bosnian family during the Bosnian war in the war-torn city of Sarajevo less then 10 minutes away.
The film starts off in black and white with non-digetic Italian music. It seems quite dated, old fashion and dull although portraying a very light hearted atmosphere which shows the audience this film is going to most likely be this same atmosphere throughout. The Japanese tourist is seen taking pictures of his beautiful surroundings and looking with some amazement, then the seen is immediately set as there are a few establishing shots of famous ancient landmarks in Rome such as the coliseum so the audience know he is in a tourist in Rome. At this point it is quite unusual for a short film as everything so far seems to making sense and is quite structured and it is quite clear as to what is going to on- there is nothing weird or confusing apart from the fact the film is called 10 minutes, so it is clear that maybe something is going to happen to relate to the title.
The film switches quite quickly to full colour which is quite a shock at first as it wasn’t expected but it seems a lot better as the colours are quite rich, warm and homely such as yellows and greens it makes the audience feel as if they are there in Rome. The scene looks like the perfect little world where everyone just minds their and business and is just polite to everyone around them however it seems almost too perfect. The fact that there isn’t any dialogue and all that can be heard is little conversations in the background gives of a slightly underlying uneasy atmosphere as if something is going to happen, still unknown to the audience.
The story really takes off when the Japanese tourist goes in to a photography shop after reading a sign in Italian. Many people watching this film may have been quite confuse as the sign was in Italian and not everyone can read Italian so us as an audience are quite intrigued at this point especially as the main thing that stood out on the sign was the number 10.
The first bit of dialogue in this short film happens when the tourist goes in to the photography shop, it is quite humorous and the atmosphere is still very light hearted. The tourist enquires about his photos being able to be developed in 10 minutes, the shop assistant says this Is fine and tells the tourist to wait of come back in 10 minutes. The Japanese tourist steps out the shot and the camera slowly pans up to the street clock which reads 11.50 which is another connection to the title- ‘10 minutes’.
At this part in the film the whole films take a complete turn as to what the audience would have expected as through some clever camera techniques the scene changes to a different clock reading 11.50. this now confuses the audience as it is totally different to where they just were it is almost as if it is a different film its totally random however very typical of a short film as they usually don’t really have a structure.
It is very dark and dingy looking as if it was maybe back in time or just a less fortunate family, this is quite obvious with the way the mum, baby and small boy are dressed. it looks as if it was shot at least 20 years before the first scene we just saw. The sounds are quite dramatic as not much can really be heard apart from the baby crying, this could maybe symbols sadness and the hard time this family is going through at this particular time. The use of the subtitles is quite significant as it forces the audience to concentrate further as then they might understand the film better. The atmosphere is very eary and uneasy, it makes you feel very unsafe. The boy who looks about 11 years old is sent out to get some bread.
As he walks on his journey to get bread the audience begin to feel quite anxious for this boy as he seems to walk down very dark corridors before he actually gets out on to the outside of his flats. As he gets out side is again I still a very dark and cold looks location it is almost as if it is a ghost town there isn’t many people around and the only thing that can be heard is the general sounds off outside and for this boy it seems to be quite quiet. However for the boy is seems to be quite normal for him and he doesn’t seems to feel unsafe it is the norm for him.
When we see where and how the boy is getting bread it becomes clearer to the audience as to what is going on. It shows that this is perhaps a country maybe going through a war as there is rationing happening and people seems very desperate for simple things like water. Although our theories are confirmed when the boy starts talking to two army men who look like they are guarding the town, it has obviously been happening for a on time as the army men talk to the boy as if they know him.
Although the atmosphere is quite tense as the audience aren’t to sure what is going to happen next the film takes a shocking turn as all of a sudden large exaggerated bomb explosions can be heard it is something the audience maybe expected at some point but the way is is done is very harsh and violent and the audience really feel for the by as it is a mad rush for him to get home to his family despite being in a lot of danger himself.
When he reaches home it is too late as he finds him mother and father both dead of which they are both clearly shown to the camera with blood streaking down their faces this was most likely done for the compete shock factor and to give it a further sense of realism as this is what can happen and does happen tin there types of countries the image of the clock from the beginning is then shown again showing showing 12 o’clock as the 10 minutes have gone by this boys entire family has been wiped out from a war that has nothing to do with him . the scene then reverts back too the Japanese tourist in Rome where after 10 minutes he has picked up his newly developed photographs and looks at them with a smile and then is able to just carry on with is life.
I think this short film is excellent as it shows in quite a simple but very effective and hard hitting was the things people take for granted and it really makes you appreciate the things you have because as we see they can be taken away so very quickly. This film was most likely made for his reason to give this message out to the audience and also just to make them more aware of life itself and how fast and can be taken away.
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