Tribeca Film Festival 2022: WE MIGHT AS WELL BE DEAD

Fear and paranoia are the perfect catalysts for mass panic. What can start as a small fracture in perceived safety can escalate and snowball into mass hysteria. Natalia Sinelnikova‘s We Might As Well Be Dead frames this concept within the seclusionary setting of an exclusive community facility. A home for all ages with a rigid application process and even more strict eyes to maintain, all seems quiet and content until a young girl is no longer present in the community and a dog goes missing. It is not until the normalcy of this crafted living is broken that one truly understands how fragile the system really is – and what others will do to maintain it.

The Premise

We Might As Well Be Dead works early on to establish the feeling of a utopian society. As a family is shown walking through the woods, ax in hand, there is a sense that the world around them is in peril. Chaos can jump out from anywhere behind the trees or in the forest. There is immediately a sense of compromised safety, the gates of the community complex a welcomed sight. Though not for long, We Might As Well Be Dead reinforces the idea of safety as the couple and their son is subjected to metal detectors and intense questioning. If there is one thing for certain, this community is exclusive, and for good reason.

As they are shown the vacant flat, they plead with Anna (Ioana Iacob), the local security guard, the desperation speaking once again to the desirability of the community, but also the state of the world beyond its gates. As their interview ends, the utopian feel of the community is further reinforced, calmly communicated announcements on the intercom, the trust placed in Anna, and a festival to make the entire community feel safe and inclusive. But with all images of safety, they can easily be broken.

In recent days, Anna’s daughter Iris (Pola Geiger) has fallen “ill”, she fears that she has contracted the “evil eye”, causing her to lock herself in the bathroom. Iris has come to believe that she has not only seen terrible things in her dreams but that they will inevitably come to pass – starting with the loss of one of the tenant’s dogs. What starts as a simple interruption at the festival cascades into a hypnotic wave of fear, hysteria, and the need to survive by any means.

Crafting Fear and hysteria

Resonating a feeling of Snowpiercer and 1984 at its core, We Might As Well Be Dead is a film that captures the darker side of the human spirit. As more strange happenings indicate that someone may have broken through the gate, or worse become a threat from the inside, We Might As Well Be Dead preys on the fear of its community, delivering both communal and individual reactions in the face of threatened safety. We Might As Well Be Dead is strong in script, giving strength and breadth to its limited community set. This is a film you must listen too, rumors abound, careful structuring of innuendos and in-between-the-line threats challenging the idea of safety. Where many are afraid of one turning on them, whether it is before beyond the gates or inside, everyone becomes a threat to everyone else.

The success of We Might As Well Be Dead is found more in dialogue than visual constructs, yet it is its representational skill that also rises above. During my screening, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to the state of the world. This bubble of a community resonating a feeling of the bubbles we created during the pandemic and even politically over the years. Immigration too was a prominent thought, where even if it seems safety is awarded to those who have been accepted, cultural and language differences are never forgotten.

There is an understandable shock that comes as you watch each of the showcased inhabitants succumb to fear. Yet, even this fear is different from person to person. For some, it is the fear of punishment or exile, and for others the loss of power. Psychology is an amazing element that interweaves the narrative of We Might As Well Be Dead, displaying how quickly humanity can turn on one another and what we are willing to do to survive. Like the community itself, the human psyche is just as fragile and easy to fracture.

Conclusion

We Might As Well Be Dead presents itself initially as a whodunit, but devolves into a deep examination of the human psyche and the innate will to survive. By the film’s end, audiences will come to understand that sometimes, safety is not in numbers and that fear may not be an emotion that can be overcome.

Have you seen We Might As Well Be Dead? What did you think? Let us know in the comments below!

We Might As Well Be Dead premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival on June 9, 2022!

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