Perfectly A Strangeness

Bluesky

It’s still dark when we first see them: Palomo and Ruperto and Palaye, one white donkey and two brown ones, exploring the desert together. They traverse scrubland, climb up a ridge, and just as dawn is breaking the come to a hill. Atop this is an observatory, still and quiet, apparently abandoned.

Shot by Nicolas Canniccioni using anamorphic lenses, the film aims to capture something of what a donkey might see through the large pupils in its widely spaced eyes. The light is crisp and clear with that special quality found only in the driest of deserts. We follow the donkeys over the course of the day as they wander around the massive building and adjacent structures. At one point, one of them noses at an old pump, as if hoping that it will release water. Coming to an edge, they look out at the vast expanse of land below them, at the faded hues of far-off slopes.

Nominated for an Oscar in the Best Documentary: Short Subject category, Perfectly A Strangeness is an experiment in the documentary form, its innovative storytelling inviting viewers to engage with the world from a fresh perspective. During the hot, languid hours of the day, there is a sense of stillness, of waiting. Then, at night, the observatory begins to open up, unfolding like a strange desert flower. We see no sign of human activity. It might be today or a thousand years hence. The stars whirl in the heavens. The animals come and go, perhaps performing a daily ritual. Somewhere out of sight, solar-fed wheels turn. The passage of the stars is recorded for eternity, whether or not there is anyone to see.

Under the observatory’s gaze, the night sky is thick with stars, with secret colours and the light of unknown worlds. The donkeys pay it little heed. Together they wander back down the slope into the soft darkness of the lower world. They too are clinging to a tiny orb, hurtling through space, but they keep their balance.

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