Aman Iman - Water is life Directed by Mustapha Benghernaout
Aman Iman - Water is life
Directed by Mustapha Benghernaout
Country: Algeria
Year: 2020
Author review: Roberto Matteucci
Click Here for Italian Version
In the birth of the world, water is the divine element. Life begins with water.
In the Bible, Genesis 1.1, confirms the choice, God chooses to sweep over the waters:
“In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters.”
In the Quran, Sura 2: 164, Allah grants life to the dead land with water:
“Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of the Night and the Day; in the sailing of the ships through the Ocean for the profit of mankind; in the rain which Allah send down from the skies, and the life which He gives therewith to an earth that is dead; in the beast of all kinds that He scatters throught the earth; in the change of the winds, and the clouds which they trail like their slaves between the sky and the earth; - (here) indeed are Signs for a people that are wise.”
Water has a physical composition, its own procedure, a long and complex existence cycle: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, infiltration, surface runoff, and subsurface flow. Observation is complicated, but it is an intelligent way to approach the mystery of infinity.
The young Algerian director Mustapha Benghernaout expressed the same feeling, the same psychological desire to discover the nature of water, in the short film Aman Iman - Water is Life.
The lockdown – due to the virus – started in whole world. The lockdown is hard, relentless, people die, hospitals are full, freedom is suspended. The author's idea was born during this period. There is a necessity to return to life, to give life back to the "dead lands". The hope is that water can wet the world. A lot of rain is needed again, abundant.
Mustapha Benghernaout lives in Mostaganem. A charming seaside place, the horizon is filled with the vast expanse of the Mediterranean Sea. He knows its value. The inspiration arrives from the sea, from the thinking about the validity of its cycle.
The sky is covered with irregular cirrus clouds. The vision is total. The clouds are high. The sound is an acoustic effect, a vibration, an incensing beat, inexorable, it is a “heartbeat”, a pulsation of the heart. And the heart beats have dissimilar intensity. The rhythm varies according to the excitement, the activity, love felt.
Alternating, there is a vessel with a brown background, marked by some streaks. Inside, the water has vitality. It takes shape, makes a horizontal movement. The sky reappears, the clouds are darker. An electric blink. Black fade.
Again, the container. This time, there is a vertical line. It is the rain, finally, gets down. The dimensions are bigger, it keeps the pace, it resembles a musical score; says the director: "I used musical notes synchronized with the raindrops to give a feeling of hope." The synchronous is perfect. Now there is a strong downpour.
The purifying function is active in the container. Numerous bubbles, large and small, are formed. The screen fills with spheres like a Wassily Kandinsky painting with his Circles.
The inner level has risen, it is close to the edge. The drops are heavy, almost violent, they leave an intense mark.
The sky turns black, the birds fly low because the storm is coming.
In the end, the line is bigger and has brown filaments. They move as if they were spermatozoa, they narrate the conception of life.
The characteristics of water are represented in each facet. The strength appears in different sizes. However, who decides its greatness? God's presence is concrete.
The short film describes precise ethical concepts. Water is the good. Mustapha Benghernaout's frames are dreamlike, surrealistic, religious. Not coincidentally, water comes from the sky, from paradise.
The structure is symbolic, based on straight, diagonals, verticals and circular lines. The framing and the sound are the main peculiarities, an expression of the director's visual and artistic skills. When the budget available is little, the difference is exclusively in the perception and emotional projection of the author. Mustapha Benghernaout's analysis is capable of fabling about the universe and dreams. If all the elements are in unison, life can be procreated, and water is the seed of love.
Director biography
Mustapha Benghernaout is a self-taught film maker born in Mostaganem Algeria. Contributed in many festivals locally and internationally. Winner of SDG in action film festival 2018, best amateur short film at Chefchaouen international environment film festival 2019 and best very short film at Tanjazoom international social short films festival 2019
Synopsis
Just as the air, water is an essential element in life, but today, do we know the state and the value of this blessing ?
Artist’s statement
After the cessation of all artistic activity during the current period of covid 19.
I was thinking of making an art video with the means available to me at home. Moreover I was limited in the scenario which should not be complicated and a little easy to realize without using technicians or actors.
I chose water as subject and main actor in my short film.
I wanted to show the state of this vital component from the inside, as if we are in the place of water and we see the changes it experiences from the outside.
I also used sounds to convey my message. Like the sound of heartbeats that symbolizes life and that changes rhythm with the change in the state of water (rarety, pollution...).
I used musical notes synchronized with the raindrops to give a feeling of hope and also notes that give a feeling of worry with the images of pollution.
