A short, student film but nonetheless of very high quality. The actors are professionals and do a good job. The technical aspects are extremely good, especially when they were done at bargain rates. The writing, and this is the crux of the matter, is well thought out and was obviously hoped to be meaningful. Meaningfulness in this case has led the writers down the path of symbolism, metaphor and mysticism. There's nothing wrong with that. Some of very good movies have gone there but it is dangerous. It's easy to fall into claptrap. For all its trappings of foreboding, the film ends on a note of hope, as symbolized by a small flower. I've always liked short films. They have so little time to get the point across. They take a lot of skill to do right. Back in the early days of TV there were short films all over the place. There was not much original programming and time to fill. I guess that's where I developed a taste for them. This film had much the same feel as those. Sheol, by the way, is the name of the afterlife in Hebrew mythology. It was a place to which all souls went after death, regardless of whether or not you had been a good person. It was not a place of punishment but neither was it a place of reward. Still, it was better than the Babylonian afterlife. That was an infinite building consisting of corridors and room filled with nothing. Souls were transformed into large, ungainly, flightless birds that wandered from room to room forever. There were no beds or chairs to rest in. There was nothing to see but dust and nothing to eat but clay.
Review of The Sheol Express
