TRIBECA REVIEW: ‘Angst’

León Rechy’s perpetually clever and somber short film, Angst, is currently playing at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. The 8-minute movie features a doctor (Marius Biegal) and his mental breakdown after he administering a lethal injection at an execution. Dressed in his medical white coat, with all of his tools nicely laid out on the table, this doctor doesn’t try to save lives, but is tasked with the unenviable responsibility of ending a convicted criminal’s heartbeat. Slowly, almost methodically, he goes through with the action, knowing that the chemical solution in his hands is inalterably lethal. In other words, he has the power of God, but rather than giving life, he’s taking it away.

After these early scenes when the execution is completed, we follow the doctor and his increasingly unstable behavior. He simply can’t live with his decision, and he needs some type of escape.

Rechy’s film is simplistic, but resoundingly effective. There’s no real dialogue, but the images from the screen seem to pop with emotion. We observe a man at a crossroads. Does he continue down this path? Or, take matters into his own life-giving hands? Some could say the film is a critique of capital punishment. Others will focus on Angst as a finely focused character study. In its small, human actions, the film is quite political. It shows the story behind the hoopla of government-sponsored execution. There’s no media headlines or last-minute calls from the governor. There’s no crying parents or stereotypical court scenes. It’s just one doctor and the deadly venom in his hands.

That’s powerful stuff.

Angst is featured at Tribeca as part of the Character Flaws program.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Angst will play April 21 at 3 p.m. (AMC Loews Village 7); April 25 at 7:30 p.m. (Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 9); April 27 at Noon (AMC Loews Village 7); and April 29 at 1:30 p.m. (Tribeca Cinemas Theater 1). Click here for more information.