VERDICT: A man fastidiously records his electrical energy consumption, gradually counting down to his demise, in this strangely compelling and poetic 16mm short.
The imbalance of energy consumption towards human civilisation sits at the crux of Marie-Magdalena Kochova’s striking short, 3 MWh.
An unnamed protagonist (played by Jaroslav Pizl) works at a nuclear power plant and has a fixed idea about how much electrical energy should be enough for a human being to live with a reasonable quality of life. Using this figure, he estimates an overall total that he is allowed to consume across his lifetime of 228 MWh – around 3 MWh per year. In his early 60s, he approaches the end of his allotted consumption and must prepare for his body to begin returning energy back into the world.
From a screenplay by Josef Kokta, Kochova’s film is a low-key and poetic look at the final days of the protagonist’s life, as he must decide on how to use his remaining energy based on his own pre-determined maximum limit. Shot on beautiful 16mm stock by Kristina Kulova, and including some elements in which electrical discharges based on Pizl’s voice have been used to degrade the film images, 3MWh once feels separated from its subject and of a piece with it.
The reasons for the protagonist’s worldview are left enigmatic beyond a fundamental adherence to the first law of thermodynamics in which energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. However, the film raises pointed questions about the consumption of resources by modern society, and in a poignant, somewhat grim, portrait, explores what might happen were an individual to try to redress the imbalance in some small way. As the annual figures for various countries in Europe are listed in voiceover, all more than twice the man’s estimate for comfort, his perspective seems understandable even while it is completely alien. Kochova’s film find the deeply humane in this most mathematical of equations.
Director: Marie-Magdalena Kochova
Cast: Jaroslav Pizl
Producers: Agata Kolarova, Eva Flidrova
Screenplay: Josef Kokta
Cinematography: Kristina Kulova
Editing: Veronika Kasparova
Sound: Martin Michalek
Music: Hastal Hapka
Production Company: Helium Film
Venue: Sarajevo Film Festival (European Shorts)
In Czech
12 minutes
