Jorge has been a clown at the circus for his entire life. It is all he knows to do. Until one day his boss suddenly decides to sell the circus to someone who is decided to turn it into a cabaret show to attract the crowds. It is the moment when Jorge decides to fight at any price to save the circus.
Roberto Flores’ ‘The Last Show’ communicates further beyond the story of Jorge and his circus. It is a story of changing times. People face more and more the inability to adapt to the changing world in which they live. Tastes, humour, entertainment, perception change. All these factors lead to a profound change of the society and its individuals. The interests, the way of regarding and understanding the world, the way in which each one relates to reality suffers a deep transformation.
Jorge is unable to keep up with the audience’s desires. He ceases to entertain and he refuses to see and accept that. He is out of date. It is just a matter of time until no one will attend his show anymore. When he finally understands the death of his show is inevitable he understands he will pass on into ‘non-existence’ – more or less metaphorically.
In fact Roberto Flores’ short film is an allegory about the dying occupations and interests of the modern man. It is a profound analysis of a powerful shift the world is taking and we are all witnessing it. Those who will have the power to adapt will survive; those who don’t will become a relic of the past. Becoming aware of this reality (SPOILERS FOLLOW) the clown invents a suicidal show in which he hangs himself in front of the public. This attracts such an amount of people that he manages to save his number and the circus, enriching its new owner.
Jorge’s suicide is of course symbolic. Through this gesture director Roberto Flores subtly points out to the altering of entertaining and generally of the human perception of things. It is a downgrade the world suffers, a downgrade in the face of which the suicide would be the supreme contestation. Unfortunately the world is so tainted that suicide would be far from raising awareness as it would be itself regarded and understood as an act of amusement or entertainment.
‘The Last Show’ is a shocking, straightforward confession about the changing times of the present which TMFF has awarded with the 1st Prize for Best Film Of September 2016. This one is not to be missed!
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