MANTIS - DIRECTED by DANIEL SCHWACHTER
Directed by Daniel Schwachter/ Reviewed by Biplab Das
Mantis - A World of Colours and Emotions give a panoramic view of a grasshopper’s life from the humans’ point of view. The director Dan Schwachter played with a plethora of colors in the movie. It is high in contrast and shot beautifully. The director primarily depicted the daily life of a grasshopper. He sees it as a prophet who helps us to see the world.
The film is just 8-minute short. It doesn’t have any dialogues. The only sound it has is the sound of the wind chimes. The film needs a couple of viewing to understand. 
The grasshopper, the protagonist of the film, starts its journey from the backyard of a house. It roams around aimlessly in that place. It marches forward slowly but steadily. It seems the grasshopper has a purpose. The regularity of daily life shown in the movie is unique. The grasshopper has got an entry at all sorts of areas in the house. It climbs up, climbs down. It goes inside the house and also roams outside. The texture of the film is so unique that the grasshopper blends with it well. The use of flowers to depict different colors is different. The texts in the film helped us to understand. In one of the messages, it says that the prophet helps us to see. But see what. It didn’t say that. It is on the audience’s shoulders to find a meaning out of it. It also poses a question of what you discovered. The best part of it that the grasshopper makes us believe that small and steady steps will help you to achieve your goals. 
It gives us to find hope. Hope is the one thing that we should never lose. Finally, the film also raises the question
The contrast of colors is another thing that will hook you. At the end of the movie, the grasshopper tries to break the glass. The pertinent question of gaining and losing goes on. It also tells us that the world is forever. No matter what it is, in the end, nature will stay. The trees, the rain, the fire, or the snows – everything. The next morning, we come to see that the grasshopper is dead. Raising the questions all over again- who gains and who losses.
