Death of a Shadow (2012)

A young soldier has been killed in the Great War, but he manages to do a deal with death that will allow him (Matthias Schoenarts) to return to the land of the living on the condition that he collects 10,000 shadows. Essentially, this involves him taking a sort of photograph of other people whose spirits he hopes to trade in for his own. It’s only as he gets near to his target that he encounters the pining “Sarah” (Laura Verlinden) who is mourning her long lost “Daniel” (Benjamin Ramon). A little investigation reveals that this young man met a rather ignominious end, but as “Nathan” sees just how distressed she is he wonders if perhaps his life is the most important thing to be returned to a world devastated by war and tragedy. It’s not the most straightforward of narratives, this, and that ambiguity helps it to stand out as quite a gently thought-provoking and highly personal drama set against an almost unquantifiable backdrop of longing, grief, sacrifice and quite possibly shame too. It’s a stylishly filmed feature that is well worth twenty minutes of your time.