White Chamber (2018) d. Paul Raschid (UK) (89 min)
Set in the near future, the United Kingdom rages through a savage period of civil war, with the insurgents having seized control of a governmental facility. An office worker (Shauna MacDonald) finds herself trapped in a mysterious, technologically advanced white cell where a certain General Zakarian (Oded Fehr) ruthlessly interrogates her for information. But as the film flashes back to the days prior to her capture, we come to learn that all is not what it seems and people are not who they appear to be.
This festival darling seems to have impressed a great number of reviewers before it landed on my doorstep, but I found it irritatingly sanctimonious and preachy, filled with clichés and wannabe deep thinks. (Whoa, wait, war is bad? There are no unqualified good heroes and evil villains? Power corrupts, and revenge is a messy business? Huh. Who knew.) Not to mention the fact that the internal logic surrounding our titular ivory prison fails on nearly every level, not least of which being that the prisoners who inhabit it remain immaculately well groomed after days of relentless torture and misery.
MacDonald (The Descent) runs the emotional gamut, and she’s surrounded by a solid group of players (Amrita Acharia, Nicholas Farrell, Sharon Maughan, Candis Nergaard), but writer/director Raschid’s subtle-as-a-flamethrower script doesn’t do anyone any favors.
A polished but pretentious and overbaked political allegory that is never as intelligent or as thought-provoking as it would like to be. Pass.
White Chamber is available now on DVD and Blu-ray (with no supplemental materials) from DarkSky Films. More info can be found HERE:
https://darkskyfilms.com/film/white-chamber/
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