The post-apocalyptic adventure drama filmed by the Lithuanian Kristina Buožyte and the French Bruno Samper takes us into a new dark age in which society is divided even more tightly than in feudalism. After humans previously tried to prevent the coming ecological crisis by massively investing in genetic engineering, disaster struck. The viruses and artificial organisms created in this way escaped from the laboratory and destroyed the flora, fauna and the vast majority of humanity. Of course, a good part of the rich oligarchs managed to save themselves and they now live in closed cities called citadels, while the few surviving commoners have literally returned to the level of prehistoric people and their main task is the search for food.
The main source of food for everyone outside the citadel is genetically modified food coded so that it only yields once and the seeds can no longer be used, and only the scientists in the citadel know the secrets of the process of producing those seeds. In such an environment, the 13-year-old girl Vesper grows up, who lives in a hidden cabin somewhere in the forest with her paralyzed father Darius (Richard Brake) and communicates with him using a robotic drone that has taken over her father’s functions. Her uncle Jonas (Eddie Marsan) also lives nearby, and he runs an orphanage, but not for humanitarian reasons, but uses children’s blood to barter with the citadel. This SF adventure drama premiered at the Karlovy Vary festival in the Czech Republic takes place in such an interesting environment, and “Vesper” is another in a series of proofs that even such ambitious projects can be filmed with a modest budget.
However, while both the idea and the setting were extremely interesting, the execution stuck a lot because it seemed quite monotonous, although the plot will start when Vesper finds a wounded woman from the citadel in the forest, believing that she will take her with her if she takes care of herself. for her. It is a film that shows the darkest side of people, whether it is those from the citadel or those condemned to mere survival and the search for food. It is a dark and nihilistic vision of a world in which people think only of themselves, and see all others either as competitors in the struggle for survival or as a resource on which they could improve their position. The only exception is actually the young Vesper, who seems so naive, believing that there is still something good in people, but it’s not a world made for people like her.