Director Amir Masud’s short supernatural thriller entitled “Affliction” gave me a lot of flashbacks to films like “Donnie Darko” and “Carrie” for the fact that we can never be sure what our main character Sara’s destiny is. Is she meant to be a messiah or a prophet? Is she the beginning of a new wave of holy warriors, or merely a fluke or pure evil masquerading as good? Nevertheless, “Affliction” manages to be a powerful and disturbing journey in to a mind of a mentally unbalanced girl whose own religious beliefs has managed to unlock something in her that she never knew she had.
After a mysterious seizure, she’s granted enormous super powers, and this grants her the mission to thwart her enemies. But where do her limits lie? And what is her perception of good and evil? Told through the mind of this young rather demented girl, we watch as she confronts her abilities head on, allowing her the chance to enter in to the minds of those she interacts with daily, and decides on where her purpose lies in a society she deems evil and filled with cruelty. Amir Masud films the scenes with a very sharp definition of shadows and murky atmosphere that paint this city as a barren wasteland upon which this young girl is forced to live in. And like anyone else granted amazing abilities, she’s left pondering on their purpose and her stance as a being with advantages over others.
There’s the implication that there’s more evil at play than good here, but thankfully that’s left ambiguous with much of Sara’s own mission from god left floating in the air as something we can either deem as a godsend or a pure curse on humanity. Abigail Mittel Culwell’s performance is unnerving and very compelling, as she presents character ticks and subtle idiosyncrasies that will leave audiences squirming in their seats. Clearly this is a woman who shouldn’t be wielding any power, and yet she’s been granted it. Fear her, and beware of her wrath. A dark and spooky thriller, director Amir Masud creates a short gem that manages to invoke many ideas and thoughts from the viewer and concocts a world where everything is presented in shades of gray and good and evil are merely buzz words in the mind of a demented protagonist.