The Bride takes out the ‘Crazy 88’. Suppertime aboard the ‘Nostromo’. Eyeball cam in “Evil Dead II”. All are unforgettable scenes in the history of cinema. Commercial filmmaker and editor Alex Ferrari debuts a stylish thriller with his short BROKEN that – like these great scenes - cuts right to the heart of the matter.

An attractive girl bolts upright in bed – she’s been having atrocious nightmares. Trying to calm herself, she wanders to the kitchen. There an unexpected visitor startles her; at first, she thinks it’s her boyfriend Christian, late again. It’s not. Panicked, she tries to run, but a leather-clad chick knocks her into oblivion.

Cut to a seemingly abandoned warehouse; the girl is bound & gagged to a wheelchair and rolled to the center of the room. Around the area are several nasty looking men and the leather chick, but they defer to a scarred, well-dressed man playing the harmonica. He forces her awake, then calmly asks if she recognizes any of them. She looks around in confusion and fear, but shakes her head ‘no’. The man comments that this is a problem. Meanwhile, a ninja-like soldier infiltrates the compound, making his way towards the main room. The gang leader rips the tape from the girl’s mouth, and she immediately begins to plead for her life – she asks if this is some kind of joke. The man smirks and replies, “You’re the punch line”. He continues with the torment, comparing her to a damaged harmonica – you can either fix what’s broken, or simply have it…replaced. Management, it seems, has opted for the later in her case. But she has a secret that might save her yet…and is the approaching ninja coming to help her, or is he part of the conspiracy as well?

To fairly review BROKEN, one has to accept certain parameters; this film is like an intense episode of “Twilight Zone”(with a twist ending to boot) not a theatrical movie - after all, it was made on a meager budget of only $8000! Viewed as a sequence that will be part of a true feature (hopefully), BROKEN is an effective piece of filmmaking. The audience can readily identify with the girl as she is carried away by the out of control events unfolding; we share her experience like a runaway train as things go from bad to worse. There is no real characterization (the gang member are just basically bodies), but the film is about what is happening in the now, not where everyone is from or why they do those things they do. Production-wise, BROKEN is an amazing achievement. The film quality is top-notch - clean, well-lit, tightly edited and great use of color. A big plus in BROKEN is its visual effects. They are first rate, and mesh well in the film’s structure, adding to the intensity as opposed to taking away one’s focus. Audio is clean and distinct, with a gritty industrial music track complimenting the visuals.

The DVD of BROKEN I viewed contained an excellent menu, along with the thrilling trailer of the short, as well as some notes on the production team and visual SFX guys. The worldwide DVD release for BROKEN is set for July 2005 - for more information, contact www.whatisbroken.com/dvd.html or www.enigmafactory.com.

I was very impressed with the production values and intensity of BROKEN; I really hope that director/writer/editor Alex Ferrari and writer/producer Jorge Flores Rodriquez are given the chance to expand upon this work and make a true feature. If they continue to maintain the high standards they’ve set for themselves, the result would definitely be their (sorry folks, here it comes) breakthrough. Check out BROKEN - a short sharp shock to the system.