By Mia Trachinger, writer/ director of Reversion
(from the 2008 Hollywood Black Film Festival) Using film as a vehicle for political outrage was a new experience for me. Prior to Reversion, I would say my films were more personal, usually derived from my, or others', individual experiences rather than a collective situation. But this film was different. I have to say political anger is great for writing - in my case, it really fueled it. As with a certain demographic in this country, at a certain point, I just had had it with the Bush Administration. I began to wonder what would happen if we all acted like they did - with no care for the future and no regard for the past. If we all had no sense of consequences. Would society continue as we knew it? Would our civilization crumble? How would parking lots work? Supermarkets? I wondered whether we could actually "function." Our society works because we assume that everybody's going to adhere to certain rules of civil behavior that allows us, as a group, to flourish - for instance, I'm not going to bash your car just to get to the better parking space - and these White House guys seemed like they were throwing all that out the window. So, inspired by the Bush administration, I imagined a story about a band of genetic mutants who lack a gene that delineates time. They don't care about the past or the future because it's all a wash to them. The mutants don't understand cause and effect nor have a sense of consequence. And because they lack a time compass, they also lack a behavioral compass and moral compass - sound familiar? But my mutants weren't happy, at least not the protagonist - she wanted more. We follow the story of Eva, who wants to change her destiny, who's tired of being a mutant and of the time mishmash. She wants to avoid the future of killing the man she loves. Eva wants to be able to be able to choose her destiny, but to be able to choose she needs to have a perspective that informs her choices. To a large degree, the film is about the need for context, historical and moral, in order for us to make decisions. To illustrate this, I wrote morality tales that are set outside the main narrative and play like a refrain in the film: moments when we face desire or temptation and have to decide what the right thing to do is. Do we steal the candy bar? Cheat on a school test? Flirt with an acquaintance in front of our husband? Walk by the stranger assaulting his wife? I also include a quote by Dietrick Bonheoffer. He's the pious Catholic priest who was caught plotting to assassinate Adolf Hitler during World War II. To paraphrase: Bonhoeffer asks how bad things have to get before we are morally obligated to act. It's a good question. For my mutants, it's a difficult one to answer in their past/future vortex. Because how do we know how good or bad things are if we don't have perspective? Luckily, we're not mutants. We get to make choices. And, fortunately, this is an election year when we get to choose who represents us. I hope we all have enough perspective to choose someone to lead our country who cares deeply about the future and the consequences of their actions. -MPM Photos courtesy of the filmmaker. | 
