When I was a toddler, I got rejected from nursery school. From what I’ve heard from my mother, I was apparently too advanced in terms of education and wasn’t well suited to what they were teaching in classes. My parents tried other schools, but the outcome was still the same. So my father decided to take care of me in the primary stage of my formative years and homeschooled me until I finally got into school, at the age of five. Four years later, I was in fourth grade. It was an English exam, and I had to write an essay, choosing a topic from four options that were given. Three out of four options were something that I was familiar with, as I’d already practiced writing them many times. But then I chose the fourth option. And since life is never a movie, my essay suffered and effectively ended up affecting my overall marks in English. My father, though, couldn’t be more proud of me. He was really impressed as I dared to do something different, irrespective of the result not being fruitful. Cut to the present, I am assigned this short film called Belief, directed by Christian Loubek. And somehow, this short has become the reason for me going all the way down memory lane and sharing all this.
The last short I saw had a very hands-on approach where the audience was thrown directly into the middle of a narrative and the story spanned about a day only, in the span of twenty minutes. Belief, on the other hand, comes at you with a very laid-back approach. But it ends up telling years of stories through flashbacks in just about thirteen minutes. It starts with Lennox, an adult man, moving into a new house with his wife and daughter. The family is over the moon about the house, which looks like a dream in every possible way. Of course, this is a typical horror story set-up but director Christian Loubek clearly had other plans, thankfully. Among all the moving boxes, Lenox randomly stumbles on a box that is marked as his mother’s stuff. Inside it, he finds a letter. The story goes to a flashback, showing a young woman reading a letter (quite possibly the same one Lenox has found) to a young toddler, who’s unmistakably Lenox. The mother reads the letter out loud; it’s about Lenox getting rejected from school because his appetite for learning is abnormally high compared to others.
That’s as much as I’m going to tell you. That’s also because these short films often go unnoticed, and I want to prevent that, especially this one. The above paragraph is a tease, and if you want to know further, then you’ve got to see Belief. However, I’ll tell you this much: considering Lenox appears to be a well-to-do individual who can afford such a house, it’s quite obvious that the story does focus on how he got here from that point in childhood where his school shut the door on him because of his brilliance. But that’s not exactly what Belief is about. This short film hinges on a climactic twist, which pretty much changes everything. And it is extremely effective, narrative-wise. Because despite the novel premise, Belief appears quite simple and (I daresay) ordinary until the final minute reveal. Of course, that is so strong that the short ultimately gets elevated to a new height.
The usage of montage as a story-telling device is a common thing for this format. La Jetee, the 1962 Chris Marker short, which I consider to be the greatest ever creation in this format, pretty much immortalized this technique. So many other shorts have done it after, and Belief is no exception. One of the high points of this short has to be the mother-son relationship (well, parent-child relationship sounds more appropriate to be honest), and that is mainly established by these montages of memories from Lennox’s past. There’s barely any dialogue between the mother and son, but you don’t feel any need for it either.
Very often, films come onto the scene with novel intentions of delivering great social messages and then end up a preachy mess. It’s not easy getting the message right while being technically sound, but Belief seems to have done that. Props to the director for going all Moonlight with the casting of Lennox. Of course, all three actors, from Barret Hamilton Loubek (as young Lennox) to Blake McLennan (as teenager Lennox) to Mykee Selkin (as adult Lennox), have done so well, justifying their casting. Selkin has done the heavy lifting, given he has the most screen time, but the other two are not far behind. However, the real performer here is Erika Hamilton, who plays the mother. She is so phenomenal that her presence is felt even in the scenes where she’s not on the screen. Tia Robinson, who plays Lennox’s wife Makela, doesn’t have much to do, but she has done well as a supporting player. Belief shines bright in the technical departments, thanks to the beautiful cinematography and very effective music. All said and done, Belief shines because of the message it carries, which is never abandoning hope and always seeking alternatives when the situation is not favorable.
Going a bit personal again, I had a somewhat strained relationship with my mother during the final two years when she was alive. Watching the relationship of Lennox and his mother in Belief strangely reminds me of that, and even makes me a little jealous. I certainly didn’t have such a wholesome relationship with my own mother, but Belief still resonates with me because of the bond I had with my dad. Obviously I am not exactly trying to draw a comparison between my own parents here, but a short film like Belief is bound to make you think about your relationship with your parents and introspect for a while.
