Corporate Torment is a short film by Guerrilla Metropolitana that was rejected from all film festivals. And it’s certainly not a film for everyone. I cannot stress that enough. If you are afraid of what you might find, DO NOT seek this film out. It is included on the DVD releases of both Dariuss and The Benefactress by the same director, though.
The main idea is, in my interpretation, to tell a tale about injustice, about misuse of power, and that karma might very well come back to haunt you in the end. I realize that I’m speaking in ultra-generalizing terms now because it’s difficult to describe what’s happening without getting caught in the very “colorful” language trap. Language that really can’t be published anywhere without landing me in a lot of trouble.
I think there’s a lot of symbolism here, though. There are both subliminal text and images lasting only a few frames. You can’t look away for a second or grab a snack if you are afraid to miss anything. There are controversial texts edited in for a few frames and pictures of dead flies flashing on screen. At some point there’s a bit of a monologue about a place, which isn’t really a place after all, where all the bad people are gathered to be “punished.” But they’re not people anymore, just liquids waiting to be tormented. It’s very strange, and I think this is metalevel on the metalevel. There are so many layers when you start to think about it.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. The easily comprehensible plot is about the head of HR laying off this weaker person – Rudolph. It’s a clear injustice and inhuman act, as Rudolph needs to take care of his malformed son. He’s in great need of an income. But then again, who isn’t? Nonetheless, it’s not really that simple. This HR lady, portrayed by Juicy X, seems to enjoy the power she has a little too much, which makes her evil. So it’s not really the act of firing someone that triggers it; it’s how the firing is carried out that matters.
She even mocks Rudolph, who is played by the director himself, which makes her an even more evil person. I, as the audience, just hope she’s getting what is coming to her. The punishment is grave and seems very final.
It’s a very visual movie, and I don’t mean that in the sense that it shows a lot of gore and blood as a regular horror flick would do. This is something else; it’s extreme closeups and imagery where you hardly can make out what it’s supposed to be. You have to use your imagination. Yet, we are almost forced to understand exactly what’s going on.
I liked Corporate Torment as a whole. There are parts that I’m not too fond of, like the frenetic flashing lights in the opening scene, which might very well cause an epileptic seizure. But I understand the point of it, and it wouldn’t have worked with more conventional imagery. It kind of set the chaotic tone that the film then finished off with.
So there’s this contrast of a chaotic intro, followed by a beautiful soundtrack with very cleverly edited footage, and then the violent ending concludes it. It makes the journey complete.
