July 5, 2010 — Patrick Zimmerman

Lapse: A Chilling Metaphor for Worlds of Invisible People

Lapse is a harrowing short film by the Australian filmmaker Scott Alexander. The film transports viewers to the darkly sinister world of after-hours at a large, high-security inpatient psychiatric institution. An on-call agency cleaning lady accidentally loses her identification card and then becomes lost in the hospital’s labyrinth of gloomy hallways. Her plight goes from bad to tragic, as the film becomes a heart-rending exploration of the loss of personal identity, as well as the debilitating demise of control with which we are all confronted when unable to communicate with or to others.

The film stands as a chilling metaphor for the devastating contemporary plight of ever-growing numbers of people who have been rendered invisible by unbearable poverty, the suffering of chronic illnesses, excessively complicated political bureaucracies, and the vast powers of hugely wealthy financial institutions that use their forces to strangle both the poor and common working persons.

Lapse confronts the viewer with deeply agonizing images and issues, which undoubtedly will make you want to look away. But please don’t.

Lapse: A Chilling Metaphor for Worlds of Invisible People

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