A single shot, a real time film on location about an assault, a ransom demand, bomb deactivating and desperation should have been nothing else than a breathtaking piece with its audacity. P.V.C.-1, the FIPRESCI award winner of the International Competition, is indeed breathtaking. Given the information that P.V.C.1 takes place in a rural area in Colombia where the political situation is critical and the film is based on an actual event, the tension automatically increases. It is a brilliant directorial debut.
The outstanding work of the steady cam operator by the director Spiros Stathoulopoulos himself makes the audience become eyewitnesses to the tragicomic tale, seeing the helplessness of the authorities dealing with a cruel crime. We witness a poor farmer's family being slowly victimized by the harsh third world reality.
The originality of the idea and style transform the event into a genuine thriller. The panic- stricken family contacts the local military authorities and makes an appointment to meet the unit that might dismantle the PVC tube device from the mother's neck at the crossroads. They are not sure if it is a real bomb or a sick joke.
The use of real time and the camera's movement like the human eye as if turning our heads from one point to another, as if changing positions, creates a psychological effect. We feel as nervous as a person on location. Time passes, it gets darker and we get impatient.
P.V.C.-1 succeeds in creating the suspense that most thrillers, horror and action films fail to. It heartily involves us.
Without any artificial lighting, without any close ups, without any cuts, with only little dialogue, with amateurish acting and with some bitter, dark humor derived from the absurdity of the whole event, P.V.C.-1 reaches the level of high profile film-making.
