Lost Face

Greetings again from the darkness. Director Sean Meehan (not the actor of the same name) delivers a terrific screen adaptation of the legendary writer Jack London's short story. It's high level production based in the mid-1800's with fine acting and a score from Elliott Wheeler.

A brutal scene unfolds in the opening as a Native American tribe has turned the tables on the fur thieves who had previously enslaved them. One of the men (Martin Dubreuil) is being forced to watch as his cohort is being tortured to a slow death. As the attention turns to him, he quickly calls for the Chief (Gerald Auger) and begins calm (with a touch of understandable desperation) negotiations for his life.

By the end of the 13 minute film, we realize what a brilliant story it is and how it's filled with lessons we might not have immediately recognized. When negotiating, it's best to know what the other person is negotiating for, so that you might better understand their motives. And more importantly, the purity involved with hoping for a miracle is simply a part of the fabric of human nature.

Two fur thieves are captives of Native American tribe. One is brutaly executed. The other negociates his life, offering to chief a misterious medicine who creates invulnerability for the zone of body where it was used.

For wise man of tribe, like for viewer, an obvious trick.

But the chief accepts, the demands of man are respected and the proof of medicine efficiency will be demonstrated. And it is it, in dramatic manner.

Sure, the moment of test is the powerful one. But its virtue is to revelate the admirable exploration, in each detail, of the text by Jack London. And exactly makes this short film just great , not ignoring the beautiful performances and impecable crafted atmosphere . Not, last, the inevitable why about the purpose of thief.