Despite the remarkable cultural and scientific advances of contemporary times, conflicts caused by political or religious ideologies continue to be a painful reality for many communities. ‘From One Shore to Another‘ is an inconvenient and empathetic short film about the innocent victims of African massacres, briefly depicting the life story of a survivor who has risked her life fleeing from her motherland. War is, indeed, the main theme of the project signed by Gerard Corporon, but the director doesn’t adopt this delicate subject from a singular perspective, discussing the many forms of interhuman conflicts that are found even in the most banal daily scenarios. War doesn’t only mean bloody armed conflicts, but also unmeasured pride, envy, jealousy or other forms of human egoism. As a consequence, through this film, the creator does not just aim to raise awareness on the tragic destiny of many African countries, but also to orchestrate a subtle analysis of some ordinary existential patterns that could hide as much hate as a genocide. That’s why this short film also succeeded in impressing us with its extreme drama and shocking us through its brutal and somehow poetic way of rendering the social evil that governs our lives.
After an oyster merchant rescues an Ivorian woman from drowning, he gives her the chance to start a new life in France, away from the African massacres that killed her family. However, no matter how noble may it be, the man’s gesture to host this migrant is illegal. The protagonist assumes this risk, but he also underestimates the human wickedness around him.
It is hard to say what the saddest aspect portrayed by the director of this project is: the countless victims of absurd political ideals or the human malice that is a part of the daily scenarios of our lives? Not by accident, the title of this short film hides a sad message in its subtext; the Ivorian woman is fleeing a concrete war to face another, perhaps even more pernicious, war – that of the individuals dominated by destructive selfishness. The dramatism explored by Gerard Corporon targets not only the destiny of a nation, but also the fatality dominating the whole humanity that is incapable of defeating its own instincts. ‘From One Shore to Another’ is a delicate, heart-breaking and highly contrasting project, joining a visual poem rendering a series of heavenly maritime landscapes with the existential tragedy of the victims everywhere destroyed by all forms of human wickedness.
