The film explores upon treaded waters in not only film but also written literature – discrimination, particularly racial and religious discrimination.
It chronicles the story of an American man, who becomes trapped in an elevator with a Muslim woman wearing a “burqa”. All the while they are in the elevator, the man realizes how small the world. They both commit almost no contact with each other, apart from the seldom eye-to-eye until the man gets injured. The woman, at first, hesitates whether to help or not, but eventually removes to burqa to bandage the man’s wound. The burqa signifies religion, and its removal showed compassion but also a violation of their rituals.
The film is a good example of all the right things coming together in a film. Even with some aspects not shown, the film was a success and justifies its purpose.
The characters, unlike in most films, had hardly any dialogue. It would normally be a bit of a downside because we commonly communicate through words, and people expect that of a film. But ultimately, the absence of dialogue did not matter. The message was still clearly conveyed through other ways of conveying a message like body language. eye contact and reaction of the characters that was somehow different. The use of silence in the film somehow justifies how these characters were view each other; they were aliens to each other.
The cinematography and directing was striking. It was rich in its simplicity and delicate. mimicking what it would be like inside an actual elevator as if this can happen to anyone out there. The camera positioning showed us close-up shots of the characters, showing every nook and cranny possibly hiding emotion. The lighting was soft and created shadows that in turn created depth in an otherwise simple picture. It did not move to any impossible angles, but instead, it allowed us to see from a seemingly first hand perspective.
The film’s productions like the music, background, and costumes, were incredibly appropriate for the role and direction the film portrays. While the simplicity of the film splits its audience to extremes, it achieves its purpose of delivering a powerful social message.
Then we go to the acting and the characterization, the acting was sublime. When the actors were having their moments, you can see the emotion in their eyes – doubt, guilt, or fear. The characters reached a certain turning point in the film, their preconception of each other changed. As in a short story, they had been illuminated, thus their development was also thought out well. The acting delivered the message through its weirdness and the tension it creates.
The film justifies its purpose through its title and creation, “Behind the Walls”, which attempts to see something beyond the surface, beyond stereotypes and discrimination. That behind those walls, exists people who are capable of compassion that could overcome fear and religion, that could overcome any difference.
johnpaulmamaradlo 
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