Why Are "Glitches" Essential in the World of "Truths" and "Interpretations"?
By Carwan Dourandich Originally published in Etemaad Newspaper, Issue 5591
Reality, written and directed by Tina Satter, is an American mystery-thriller film that premiered at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival, where it was nominated for Best Film and Best Director.
The central theme of Reality revolves around the concept of a "glitch in the system." The director skillfully employs visual effects - more precisely, "glitches" - to challenge the notion of a "perfect" system or, in this case, to question the truthfulness of the film's narrative itself.
Satter deliberately censors essential information from the documents and dialogues in the film, forcing the audience to engage with the narrative, seeking to uncover the truth. These distortions - or "crashes" - are not accidental; rather, they are precisely timed and intentional disruptions that add layers of complexity to the storytelling. The presence of these visual crashes or glitches inherently directs the audience's mind toward digital errors and viruses - entities capable of infiltrating enemy systems, accessing classified data, and exploiting it for their own advantage. Within the film's framework, noise functions as a rupture between the filmmaker's simulated narrative and the real story.
The film reveals how a minor "noise" within the U. S. security system - Reality Winner - has caused a massive disruption, leading to unexpected events and unintended consequences within a seemingly "perfect, flawless, uninterrupted, and well-orchestrated" system. This small noise was so catastrophic for the government that it fostered the perception that the system was fundamentally dysfunctional. At the same time, the filmmaker subtly suggests that the successful transmission of information or truth necessitates noise - figures like Reality Winner. In other words, without noise, no precise information can exist.
To the public, the system's functionality appears as a "mystery," but interference from noise unravels this enigma. In this scenario, The Intercept news agency plays the role of a mediator for the noise - acting as a noise itself within the United States. However, unlike Reality Winner, this news outlet, leveraging its media influence, is capable of shifting an object away from its conventional and seamless discourse, stripping meanings from established concepts and words, and generating new interpretations.
When, in certain parts of the film, Reality Winner - or at other times, the police officers - briefly but unnaturally disappear through a visual glitch, the audience is momentarily thrust into a void of meaning. These empty, incomprehensible spaces may signify the characters' or the narrative's loss of control, thereby challenging the viewers' assumptions about hypothetical narratives. Through these distorted visuals and manipulated narratives, the audience is propelled into the precarious realm of "truth" and "interpretation."
For me, Reality is a film about noise - noise that both exposes the gaps between the system's function and its malfunctions and, paradoxically, acts as a bridge to fill those gaps.
