Canopy

A search for the essence of humanity in the midst of a war and a jungle that has been turned into a sanctuary. Aaron Wilson creatively modifies the well-known cinematic and literary motif of the struggle for survival, blurring the boundary between reality and an image of reality that is gibbering with fear and a feeling of alienation. The action in the film takes place in 1942 during Japan’s invasion of Singapore, and it is based on the memoirs of a veteran from the director’s hometown. Shot down in combat, an Australian pilot parachutes into the forest. Among a symphony of natural sounds, explosions, and voices, and followed by the all-seeing eye of the camera, he hides from Japanese patrols. Close to death, he finds his own Friday in the form of a lost Chinese soldier. Surrounded by the lukewarm protection of nature, a spectacle of destruction reminiscent of a Dali painting plays out overhead. The jungle breathes emptiness, and the status of appearing figures is unclear. Wilson’s subjective experience of shows war to be a contest among indifferent superhuman forces.

Agnieszka Szeffel