As usual, the Live Action Short category in this year’s
Academy Awards is a collection of some of the finest filmmaking you’ll likely
never see. It’s such a shame that there’s so little commercial market for these
movies. Like most previous years, the five nominees include one comedy to brighten
the mood if you choose to watch all five as a single program.
Dekalb Elementary
is inspired by a real 911 call. A disturbed young man walks into a school with
a rifle wanting to die. He threatens the receptionist and a few other employees
as the school goes into lockdown and the police arrive. He feeds instructions
to the receptionist to give the dispatcher over the phone to then pass on to
the police on scene. Through about ten harrowing minutes the receptionist uses
compassion to talk the perpetrator down as he begins to regret his decision.
Director Reed van Dyk maintains the tension across the film’s running time and
the unfortunate reality is that the subject matter would play s timely in any
month of the last few years.
