“LockDown | Chapter 1: The Virus” by Dhruv Sachdev

“LockDown | Chapter 1: The Virus” is a film in step with the times, capable of interpreting and reworking the fears and doubts of a contemporaneity scourged by Covid. But Dhruv Sachdev, the director, is mainly interested in reflecting on people’s emotions and feelings, in their most fragile intimacy. The story borrows archetypes and structures from the thriller genre to tell a profoundly human and profoundly current drama. The narrative rhythms of a tense and frenetic entertainment and the sensitive gaze towards the psyche and emotions are therefore mixed with masterful precision.

What remains at the end of this long journey is the feeling of having understood something more about us and of not being alone in this troubled moment. In fact, if the story tells of a desperate and radical attempt to protect loved ones, it does not fail to express universal emotions, in which we can all recognize ourselves. The merit of this great expressive ability is also of the screenplay, and of the actors, capable of interpreting a difficult text by bringing their personal sensitivity. It will also be for this reason that Sachdev chooses a discreet and clean style and keeps the camera very close to the faces of the two actors, so as not to lose even a nuance. To complete this human and fascinating portrait there is the cinematography, which casts a dark shadow on the rooms and faces and helps to evoke claustrophobic suggestions that push the viewer even closer to the characters. The vision of this film is cathartic: the more we see our fears represented, the more we feel freed from them. So we can define this film, in effect, a medicine for the soul.