MY BRIEF ETERNITY: Poetic, Profound & Visually Stunning

I first saw writing up the festival itself, I resolved to review it so that others would come to know of it. The short documentary is a joint project between Maggie’s and Brightest Films, the former being a cancer charity, the latter Sturges’ production company.

The film is about the Welsh artist; Osi Rhys Osmond. His plan was to create a painting for Maggie’s, one which he believed would be abandoned due to his deteriorating condition. As he prepares for this, his (perhaps) final painting he regales us, the audience, with his views on his life, his art and his imminent death.

Depth And Clarity

My Brief Eternity is a superb film that is narratively engaging as well as visually stunning. The film is guided by Osmond’s rich and melodic voice, as he describes the painting he intends to pursue, and what the painting will contain. This then fractures off into grander thoughts about his life and his own mortality.

So smoothly does Osmond’s story swing from the literal to the philosophic that the narrative flows effortlessly. Osmond never waxes to hyperbole, nor does he delve into the dark detail of his disease. His ability to remain objective and distance himself from his plight while thoroughly engaging in what it means, and the uncertainty of his future, is brilliantly evolved and inspiring.

Sturges’ camera fixes not on Osmond as a figure but parts of the man; his hands, his eyes, avoiding him fully until he begins to open up about his disease. The film is desperately aware of what camera shots to use when. As Osmond describes his work so he moves around his studio. Shots of him working are cut with images of the tools he uses, tools which become imbued with more meaning as he reminds us of the mark he has made, and wishes to make on the world. As his words turn to more serious matters so we see him, fully, at ease in his chair. But then as Osmond’s thoughts move out of the studio so the landscape that he describes is opened up to us.

While Osmond’s words create the narrative and philosophy of the film, the film’s cinematography and use of colour expand on his words, bringing depth and clarity to what he is expressing. The film is almost a painting in itself. A remote figure stands on vast plains, and the feeling of an unseen end, an eternity, is created. It is by far some of the best visual work I’ve seen in a short film. The choices made by Sturges and the sterling work of director of photography Ryan Owen Eddleston stand as a great credit to Osmond.

Osmond’s words ‘My Brief Eternity’ are inspiring and strangely uplifting. They remind me of John Green’s ‘little infinities’. This idea that we are not small, that our lives are not a blip in history, that for us our lives are a great endless stream of time, if we choose to see them that way. My Brief Eternity, as short as it is, is a succinct and effortlessly brilliant take on what it means to live, and die. That the film so well documented Osmond’s thoughts and so brilliantly renders them on screen, should make the filmmakers and Osmond’s family proud.

Conclusion

My Brief Eternity is a profound and moving piece on the subject of death. One which moves beyond the blackness and sadness of a life ended, and sees a constantly moving world. One with no beginning or end, where people can live forever. What does it matter if our lives weren’t precisely lived and perfectly timed?

The point is that we enjoy our time here, that we try, and that we make ourselves known. Osmond was aware of this, he knew the marks he made on the world would mean he’d be here long after he was gone. Though he didn’t have the perfect ending at least he was here, at least he tried, and with this ‘evidence’ he will always be remembered.

Osmond passed away on 6th March 2015, not long after the documentary was filmed. His painting ‘Self-Portait’ will hang in Maggie’s South East Wales, which is to be built in Velindre Cancer Centre, Cardiff and will open in 2017. If you’d like to know more about the incredible support Maggie’s offers follow this link.

What did you think of My Brief Eternity? How do you feel it deals with the idea of mortality?