Synopsis
In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato ponders: what would happen if one of the prisoners managed to free themselves from their chains and escape from the cave? What if that prisoner were Jay, a little 7-year-old boy?
Director’s statement
What lies behind the daily movement of a city? Last winter, we met in Paris and began discussing the Allegory of the Cave, as told in Plato’s Republic. The myth imagines humanity living in chains, facing the back of a cave, and watching shadows move on the walls, thinking it is reality. We both work with images, which certainly can be illusions, but can also become instruments of struggle and liberation of thought. So, from this discussion, we decided to create a short film. We had a few fixed ideas—the cave, the dance, the city bustling around us—and one question: what would happen if we all managed to turn together towards the exit of the cave? Perhaps it is not enough to assert that images are illusions as long as the chains that bind us are real.
洛杉矶的飞机制造厂里,突然发生了一场火灾,工人伯金(Robert Cummings 饰)和朋友简奋勇救火,但简不幸葬身火海,事后调查发现伯金递给简的灭火器中装满了电油,于是警方将伯金定为重大嫌疑人,展开搜捕。获悉这一情况的伯金回忆后发现,灭火器实际出自一名叫做弗莱的工人之手,但警方并未给伯金说明的机会,危急时刻,伯金奋力逃出,追寻弗莱的去向为自己洗脱罪名。在弗莱工作过的农场,伯金发现农场主杜宾居然也跟此事有牵连,于是匆忙逃跑。亡命路途上,铂金结识了广告模特佩蒂(Priscilla Lane 饰),铂金用诚挚打消了后者对自己的怀疑,与她结伴同行。在弗莱可能藏身的荒僻小镇,伯金乔装成杜宾的手下,打入了这个神秘的破坏组织内部……