James Ristas opens our eyes to the real and true story of how we got here in his short film Ramgog!
The world has fallen into darkness. The last woman (Emma Geller) and man (Kris Salvi) wander through the void abandoned by god. As the woman cries out to god for leaving them to starve in loneliness, they are approached by a simian-like celestial entity…Ramgog. Ramgog reveals the true nature of humankind and the next steps humanity should take should they choose to follow him.
First, I love the weirdness of Ramgog! The opening reminds me of the old religious arthouse films of long ago. Presented in black and white and on film, a homage to French “film d’auteur” our protagonists are in the void, not merely a darkened sound stage.
Screenshot
“Ramgog reveals the true nature of humankind and the next steps humanity should take…”
Emma Geller carries much of the film performance-wise and nails the seriousness of the strange situation. The appearance of Ramgog is one to behold and a throwback to the glorious low-budget costuming of 50s sci-fi. Ramgog wants to be taken seriously, which is the fun of the film.
My only qualm is that the short creates a world and vision for the future but lacks a much deeper meaning in life. What it suggests at the end merely breaks the surface of life, where I want it to go two or three layers down. If you’re going to create a new religion, you really need to address a few aspects of the nature of humanity that separate your religion from the others.
Ramgog! is an ambitious project that nails the tone and its tongue-in-cheek nature to get its point across.