Through a voice over and some civil unrest footage, we learn there’s a civil war in Great Britain, information that ‘time-zones’ and backstory’s what’s to come.
Ruth, a young woman (Shauna Macdonald), wakes up barefoot and confused in a blindingly white cuboid cell. Her captor, an initially unseen Raschid (Oded Fehr), issues voice-mutated commands and questions about her work. After realizing there’s no escape, Ruth insists she’s just an ‘admin girl’ who knows nothing. Do we believe her? No. And neither does Raschid. He tortures her with water, jolts of electricity, sub-zero temperatures, and dripping, flesh-eating acid.
Akin to “Cube” and similar ‘man-in-box’ horror/thrillers, “White Chamber” is visually arresting, futuristic and starkly antiseptic. The violence is carefully choreographed and partitioned to elicit a response from both captor and viewer. The immediate goal is to get out of this cube—somehow—or at least to find the raison d’etre for the chamber and why you’re in it.
The ingenious plot forces Raschid to go beyond the psychological tête-à-tête between captor and captive. As the story moves into its third act, we begin to see a broader goal in the film’s messaging, one that thankfully goes beyond what we’d expect in movies like “Saw” or “The Killing Room.”
The story builds to a climax in a brutal turn that is as much satisfying as it is revealing. Dystopian in its cautionary tale, “White Chamber” coldly examines how nefarious interests could weaponize the human mind. It’s a what-if scenario that would (and should) bring a shudder to every chemist engaged in ‘government’ research.
The film scored a number of prestigious nominations, including Best Director of a Feature – Paul Raschid, Best Actor in a Feature – Oded Fehr, Best Actress in a Feature – Shauna Macdonald, Best Supporting Actress in a Feature – Amrita Acharia, Best Editing in a Feature (WIN), Best Sound in a Feature and Best Production Design for a Feature.
I believe that a Spartan budget and the absence of CGI are forcing many newbie directors and writers to concentrate on story and cast. It’s what we need in this day of half-billion dollar Marvel action films and A-list actors who sometimes walk through a film for a paycheck.
Check out the trailer.
Alex A. Kecskes is a published author of "Healer a Novel" and "The Search for Dr. Noble"—both now available on Amazon. He has written hundreds of film reviews and celebrity interviews for a wide variety of online and print outlets. He has covered red carpet premieres and Comic-Con events for major films and independent releases.
