The Offering is a colour, 35mm, 10-minute
short dramatic film about the progression
and the passing of life. Without dialogue
and music, the story centers on the evolution
of love and friendship between a Japanese
monk and the young novice who has come into
his life, from their initial encounter to
their final parting. In rejecting his own
faith and drowning in self-doubts, the novice
leaves his life of unfulfilled potentials.
The passing of life is demarcated by the progression
of seasons. The only force that propels the
narrative forward is the poetic seasonal variations
in nature. The passing of life, in this film,
is as natural a progression as the passing
of seasons. The offering that passes repeatedly
between the two men is metaphorical for love
and affection, which, like life itself, are
the most fragile yet powerful and tenuous
link between any two human beings, at any
point in any lifetime. Through the universal
experience of death and of mourning, this
elegiac meditation affirms the acceptance
and the respect for what life, and nature,
have to offer, regardless of the ideological
and cultural differences that separate all
of us. |