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Day Night Day Night
Reviewed by Rich Drees
Day Night Day Night is a movie that is going to aggravate and
even infuriate many people. That’s because it challenges its
audience to not think about the politics of terrorism but dares you
to examine the mindset of a person of a person going through the
process of preparation to become a suicide bomber.
We are never
given the name of the young woman who has decided to giver her life
to a terrorist action. For the first few minutes of the film we
don’t even see her face clearly, the film already stressing her
utter anonymity. This is reinforced when she finally turns to face
the camera to reveal dark, foreign, but ultimately non-descript
features. She could be Arabic or Latino, it is never defined.
Arriving in a
New Jersey bus depot, the young woman is taken to a cheap motel
where she is prepared for what is to come. Left alone, she
meticulously bathes and grooms herself. Whether this is out of
boredom or part of some religious ritual we are not told. She
receives her orders via cell phone, always saying “Thank you” at the
end of each call.
Slowly, methodically, we are taken through the 48 hours leading up
to her standing in on a busy Times Square street corner, a backpack
bomb strapped to her back. She is supplied new clothing and given
new identity information which she repeats over and over in an
attempt at memorization. While preparing to make what seems the
prerequisite video to be released to the media, the hooded
terrorists who are the young girl’s masters move about her trying to
find the perfect combination of backdrop and wardrobe. All of these
sequences further depersonalize the girl, turning her into a cipher,
stripped of any identity to the point where by the video shoot, she
is just another prop in the terrorists’ own deadly political
theatre.
But it is the
film’s third act, where she arrives at New York’s Port Authority bus
terminal and begins her slow walk up 42nd Street towards
Times Square, where the film kicks into high gear, courtesy of the
cinema-verité style, roving camera
work of director Julia Loktev. The sequence appears to be shot in
secret, and without necessary permits I’d wager, amongst the bustle
of actual rush hour New Yorkers. And by doing so adds a certain
extra verisimilitude which amplifies the already tense sequence.
Another major
factor in the film’s impact can be traced to the performance of lead
actress Luisa Williams. She fully embodies and conveys the wide
range of emotions that the bomber runs through over the course of
the film. Since the character has very little dialogue, much of this
is done through often very subtle physical acting- small hand
gestures, sideways glances and the like. It is an incredible
performance made even more remarkable by the fact that this is
Williams’ feature film debut. |
