Review and critique at least one short film production

Wasp

‘Wasp’ was directed by Andrea Arnold in 2003. ’Wasp’ is an unpleasant film due to its subject matter. The film is about a poor mother with four small children who is unfit to take care of them, let alone herself. Even though she is an adult, Zoe is completely irresponsible and selfish. As you watch her hungry children and her attitudes towards them, you’ll find the film very shocking. I don’t think that she hates her children because the ending brings them closer as a family. Now despite having these kids (and the oldest looks to be only about 7 or 8), she drags them to the pub and tells them to wait outside and leaves the oldest one in charge. And the children wait for many hours, often playing in the street to amuse themselves and starving while mom is inside buying drinks for her date. The pop song diegetic sounds in the background makes the scene even more chaotic. This creates suspense in the films atmosphere and made me very anxious.

I loved the film because of it’s naturalistic approach to filming and how the characters are portrayed in a very realistic style. I really feel for the character of Zoe. She is obviously desperate and you can see this in the scene where she dances with her kids to keep them happy outside the pub created a light-hearted and happy tone. Also, where she gives the children sugar to stop them from moaning and also partly because all she has in the house is mouldy bread. When the children pick the food off the floor made me upset because it shows the desperation. You can see why Zoe does what she does, and it shows a real portrayal of how some people live and how desperate they are for help

This film earned the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film and it deserved it even though it was hard to watch and was so very unpleasant. There were two main reasons I liked the film. First, it was completely unflinching in how it showed a neglectful mother and her kids because you couldn’t help but feel sorry for the kids and you wanted to scream out loud towards the end of the film when they are in such grave danger. Second, I really appreciated how the film didn’t take a definite stand (right wing or left) and simply showed the family without commentary. The film is very crude and harsh, but all this is necessary to accurately portray this lifestyle. This, combined with the shocking images make this a terrible film to show children, but an amazing film for anyone else.