Caroline

The film focuses on a young girl named Caroline who is left in a boiling hot car with her two youtube siblings, although leaving your kids in a car with no AC on a hot Texas summer day is always a no go, the mothers unfortunate situation allows us to sympathise with her. The film starts showing a stressed and desperate mother trying her best to take care of her kids but also desperately needing a job. When the mother goes to drop off the kids the sitter is not present so making the best of the situation she takes the kids with her and leaves Caroline the keys in case the car gets too hot. When the car starts to heat up Caroline can't start the car so she does her best to take responsibility and care for her sibling until her mom gets back. After another set of parents sees the kids in the car tensions start to rise, you get increasingly more anxious and stressed wondering what's going to happen as everything continues to spiral down hill.

The film did an amazing job at keeping your attention because you just want something to go right and seeing the children crying and sweating gets you emotionally involved. Everything that happens makes you feel uneasy and stressed and seeing it all from Caroline's perspective just amplifies that, between the excessive sweating and the passerbyers muffled talking and tapping on the window makes you feel trapped and helpless. My only criticism is that at some points the crying and sweating was overdone and it was just hard to watch and made me uncomfortable. I would definitely recommend this to a mature audience due to how unsettling some aspects of the film can be but overall it was a fantastic film.

Wow, that was an intense short film. I can see a mom struggling with three young children like this. If a film leaves me wanting to see more, I know I've become involved in the story. And isn't that the point?

"Caroline" is a gripping short film co-directed and written by Celine Held and Logan George. Over the course of 12 blood-pumping minutes, the film provokes a debate about the clash between individual and societal morals. Based on true events, the film follows the titular character, Caroline, as she and her two younger siblings are left in a vehicle on a sweltering day while their struggling and single mother attends a job interview.

The film starts in medias res as the mother (Celine Held) desperately searches for a babysitter after her intended babysitter bails at the last minute. Although it is clear the mother is trying to do her best under the circumstances, she ultimately makes a choice to task her eldest daughter, Caroline (Caroline Falk), with supervising her younger siblings in the car while she goes into a strip mall for the interview.

Although leaving young children in a hot car is dangerously wrong, the situation is presented in such a way that the audience can sympathise with the mother's position. Cinematic and theatrical effects such as diegetic sound, close up shots and shaky camera movement make the realistic portrayal of the situation even more believable. The mother clearly loves her children and desperately needs this job to support them but has been put between a rock and a hard place with no help from the state or from friends and family.

Nevertheless the minute the mother leaves her children in the car the audience knows that the situation will not end well and nail biting drama unfolds from there.

Cries, runs, sweats. Hot, isolated, scared. Three children were being left in a car alone under the burning sun during summer Texas. Six-year-old Caroline had to take the responsibility of caring for her younger siblings when their mom leaves them for a job interview. Through the noisy background sounds of cars, cries, and the sweat marks on children's clothes, the film "Caroline" established a nerve-racking scenario for viewers through little details to significant symbols. The short film "Caroline" released in 2018, delivered a powerful message that raised the audience's awareness of current societal issues, where it demonstrated the hopelessness of a single mom who is in desperate need of a job to raise her three children herself. Celine Held, who played the mom, made her character come to life through her influencing acting, which brings the audiences to feel hopeless, worried and guilt along with her. Celine and Logan, the two directors, strived to establish a close connection with the three excellent child actors: Caroline, Brooks and Sally, by moving in with the children for a period of time. There is no question about the amount of care and work they had put into this film, and the final work is truly a masterpiece.

The film used mature shooting techniques such as tilted angles and higher angles which demonstrated the perspective of innocent children when in the face of fear and the missing of guardians. Though mainly focused on children, audiences could also connect with the mom's perspective and agree with the lady who helped the children. Overall, such complex ideas and details had been discussed perfectly in the short 12 minutes.

After I finish watching it, my eyes were filled with tears. It was heartbreaking for me to see three small children being left alone in a car and disappointed by the lack of care our society has for single mothers. The film used many details such as Caroline's wiggling tooth and the mom's smudged eyeliner that every time I watch the film again, it shocks me how relatable it is to many current real-life issues. Though Celine and Logan had done a perfect job of filming and acting, the ending of this film was not what I had expected. The film ended so suddenly that it did not give me time to recover from the chaos and had made me feel a little disappointed. In the end, "Caroline" is a significant piece of work that is impactful and worth watching. I would recommend this film to anyone because no matter their age, they would all learn from this film and interpret the message behind this film differently.

No wonder this short has won so many awards, it is a brilliant made film. So intensive and filled with emotion, what all films should be!