Alex is trying to relocate his lost phone calling his own number. As he is trying to flirt with the unexpected attractive woman’s voice, at the other end of the line he finds himself trapped in a dangerous situation without escape.
Chris Suffield’s film, ‘The Good Samaritan’ is as surprising as it is shocking. An apparently innocent attempt to flirt turns into a nightmare. But behind the narrative storyline, an allegory hides.
Alex, the main character, is the archetype of the individual who gets deceived and ends up forced into something he does not identify with. In a time when peace is shaken by terrorism, Chris Suffield’s short film brings forth the subject of all the people who have died in vain and have been cheated to sacrifice themselves to make someone else’s statement.
The title makes a reference to the woman’s voice at the phone – a person with apparently good intentions but who manipulates the situation to her own advantage. The good samaritan is a biblical character who stands out by being the only one who stops to help a traveller who had been beaten by robbers. The same way the character behind the phone call initially appears to be well intended but is obviously the opposite. This generates an antithesis with the biblical motif indicating the mischievous intentions of today. The ‘samaritan’ seems to have stopped to exist. There are only parties looking to promote and enforce personal ideologies.
‘The Good Samaritan’ warns not only about the danger of such parties getting out of control but also about the speed with which they are able to put pressure on the system and change the calm harmonious condition of the common people in an unsettling one over night. The great price paid by society and its individuals as a result of this sudden and unpredictable menace is symbolised by the tears of blood shed by the victims in the film.
Chris Suffield’s short is mysterious, suspenseful, unpredictable and merciless. It leaves a powerful print on the viewer and raises many questions to the mind. But what it manages to do best is deliver the unsafe feeling often experienced nowadays.
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