Nihilism (Short)
The newest film from director Christopher DiNunzio, “Nihilism,” begins in black-and-white. A young woman is sitting at a table, with a rose laying on it. Her inner thoughts call out to a God she has been praying to, but has not yet received an answer. She is tired of waiting. She is ready to let go of any faith she had in this supreme being, but she has also come to a realization: if this “God” does exist, is He really good? She’s seen what people do in the name of Him, and she begins to question the nature of God. Color comes into the frame, and she is at peace. Credits roll.
A lot of people would take this subject, and this film, and dismiss it as the work of a non-believer, but I’ve seen two other films of DiNunzio (“Her Heart Still Beats,” and his joyous documentary, “Viva! Saint Agrippina”), and that would be an incorrect assumption, I believe. DiNunzio has a very strong connection to the spiritual, and the religious in life (the latter was abundantly clear in “Viva! Saint Agrippina”), and even though his newest film seems to question God, it in fact is of a piece with the earlier film, where his subject (in this case, a woman played by Aurora Grabill) finds a way to incorporate the spiritual into her life that may not be in keeping with religious dogma, but allows her to find peace within herself. It’s a profound statement, and once again, it’s something that has drawn me into DiNunzio’s work in a surprising and engaging way. I can’t wait to see what’s next from him.
