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 It is the year 2025. In a small, recently formed country in Midwestern Eurasia, religion has been outlawed. Anyone practicing any form of religion has been systematically hunted down and executed. (Essentially the militarized fulfillment of John Lennon's humanistic song, "Imagine.") With only a few holdouts remaining, state-licensed bounty hunters track down the rest. Today a group of three are going after a man named Isaac, a follower of an Eastern religion who lives an isolated life. When they find him, Isaac is brought to their compound to await transfer to prison. But in the meantime, he takes the opportunity to talk about religion with one of his captors.
This film reminded me of the movie Equilibrium - in which a futuristic society attempts to eliminate feeling and emotion, claiming they are the source of all mankind's inhumanity. In similar fashion, all dissenters are hunted down and executed. While Inquisition was only a short film and didn't even begin to tackle all the issues that the feature-length (and larger budgeted) Equilibrium did, it took enough time to discuss at least a little of both sides. One might assume that the audience should side with Isaac, but it also gave a hint of the motivation behind what his captors were doing, as well. As in Equilibrium, the "bad guys" still have good intentions for what they're doing, even if it may be wrong.
In such a short film, there really isn't much of an opportunity for back-story, and while its not difficult to identify with Isaac's motivations, his captors' are a little more ambiguous. Lieutenant Einsam, who interrogates Isaac, spouts off phrases of loyalty to The State, as one might expect, and even says that he's seen first-hand the damage that can be done by religious fanatics. However, without any good background on this character, it's hard to take what he's saying seriously, since it does sound a little clichéd. In keeping with the short film, one wouldn't even need a fancy flashback, just having the Lieutenant go on a rant about his past experiences - maybe he lost his family in a terrorist attack by religious fanatics? That would certainly provide enough motivation for him to do what he does, and even a little internal conflict at having to arrest someone like Isaac who clearly lives a very peaceful and isolated life.
Another interesting part of a film like this is the relationship between the actors. Obviously those playing the captors are supposed to mistreat their captive, but an actor certainly doesn't want to injure a fellow cast member. During the capture of Isaac, the filmmakers used upward angles to suggest that he was being beaten, although when he was being led into the interrogation room, the Lieutenant appeared to have been a little too gentle with his captive.
Finally, I have to add some commentary from the peanut gallery (aka the husband, who's served in the military). On his initial watch through of the film, he guessed the weapons used by the captors to be C8 and MP5 rifles. Both are common to Western militaries, and the MP5 is used by many special forces or SWAT teams. However, given the location of the film (even though it's never actually defined) and the fact that all the characters appear to speak with a Slavic accent, it might have been more appropriate to use Eastern Bloc weapons (such as the AK-47 and its variants.) I was quite impressed to learn that the guns were just props bought on eBay and modified to look more realistic. So congratulations on fooling a military vet!
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