P:O.V. No.5 - Three Recent Short Fiction Films, WIND

An outline of Wind

Richard Raskin

Three women are looking at something off camera. The camera pans right, away from the object of their gaze, while tracking forward.

The camera pans past the house and a flock of birds fill the air.

A group of peasants appear within frame and walk to the left, as the camera continues to pan to the right.

Spectators now appear in frame, looking at something off camera. A man appears to be hanging from a post along side them.

Other hanged men appear. We still can't see what the people are looking at.

Now we finally see what the others are looking at: a man, whose arms are tied, is being prepared for hanging. A sac is placed over his head. Then the hangman awaits a signal.

Someone in charge nods his head and the hangman kicks the stool out from under the feet of the victim, whose body twiches spasmodically as he dies. The camera continues panning right.

A dog barks. The sound of a song can be heard faintly and will continue throughout the remainder of the film. As the camera continues panning right, the women we saw at the beginning of the film reappear in frame.

We are now back to where we started. Then the first two women turn away from the off-camera spectacle and return to their house. A moment later, the third woman also turns away and returns home.

The picture fades to white. Then the Lucien Hervé photograph from 1951 is faded in.