The last few years wore the literary stamp of Yuval Noah Harari with his impeccable works about the world – raising questions such as where are we coming from, where are we going, and most importantly, what are we doing now? In ‘Homo Deus’, Harari talks about the future, how we will be, how this world will become something we are not accustomed to right now. The perspective is terrifying, and according to the writer we are not ready for what the future has prepared for us. In ‘Ashes’, Dustin Ardine follows Harari’s footsteps and imagines a world where only a few of us stay alive while the fight for survival is hurtful.

 

The narrative is set in 2255, in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, where only a few of us made it and the social organization is actually in tribes. This way of transporting the habits of the past in the far future really made Dustin Ardine’s idea way more interesting, reason why we’ve watched this short with great expectations, that were in fact, fulfilled. The story focuses on some human beings trying to remain under the weather whilst the world as we know it has almost perished. The barbarian behaviors came back from the beginning of time and took over the conscience. This eternal cyclical movement of the human race is absolutely fascinating, and transforming it into a short movie is indeed amazing.

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Even though the film is focused on how the world collapsed, the title gives us a bright perspective – ‘Ashes’. Like the phoenix rose from its own ashes, so the humankind has the power to regain authority even in a wasteland. Dustin Ardine’s short is therefore optimistic, and we will go so far as to say that it is the natural follow-up of Harari’s book on how the society will evolve, another reason why we strongly recommend it to be watched right after finishing the book. The overall perspective is astonishing, and there is still hope that we might have a tiny shot of changing the future we’re building for our children.

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Written by Vlad A. G