M83 - REUNION
- Directed by Fleur & Manu -
The second part of Fleur & Manu’s intriguing epic highlights the religious symbolism of the trilogy and depicts the theme of power through chaos with strong references to the Japanese manga “Akira.” The story initiates with a seemingly waning glow of the city lights, closely resembling those of “Akira.” As the city lights dim, so do the eyes of the children, possibly suggesting that they have absorbed all the life energy required for their transmission back to their extraterrestrial home.
The video cuts to a young girl in a wheelchair. She appears to be in a government basement, hidden from the rest of humanity. This again refers to “Akira”, which tells of a character named Tetsuo, who is discovered to have psychic abilities and kept in hospital thereafter in fear of inducing a city explosion like his predecessor.
The girl in the wheelchair appears weak locked in the gloomy basement, not having profited from the nurturing, power-inducing rays of the sun like the other children. The first detail, which attracts my attention, is that she has no pulse. However, it appears that she is able to ingurgitate power by imposing chaos and destruction upon her surroundings. The initial editing establishes a connection between the girl in the wheelchair and the children on the rooftop. Fleur & Manu choose to depict the antagonist (the wheelchair girl) and the protagonists (the children) as adversaries by cross-cutting between close-ups of their profiles, which face in opposite directions.
As the little blonde girl on the rooftop begins to glow, her body combusts into a streak of light, reminding of a burning star radiating energy as it vanishes into nothingness. Thus, the driving life force, which the little girl has absorbed from the sun in the first part of the sequel, fades as she transcends into another dimension.
From the destruction of one comes the creation of another. In Fleur & Manu’s depiction of their imaginary world, it appears that the laws of Newton prevail and energy is transmitted rather than destroyed. Thus, the girl in wheelchair regains her strength as she consumes the light from the now lifeless body of the little girl. Furthermore, through the later demolition of an FBI vehicle, she inherits enough destructive strength to liberate herself from the wheelchair. Thus, it becomes apparent that when chaos brews the girl in the wheelchair is revived.
Upon detecting the glow of the little girl, a group of FBI agents rush to the location. The use of lighting in this section is particularly intriguing. Whereas the little girl on the rooftop emits a vertical flare into intergalactic space, the FBI agents are illustrated with a horizontal flare as they follow the children in their vehicle. The use of lighting consequently depicts opposing forces – whereas the agents endeavor to entrap the children on earth, they are en route upwards towards the galaxy. Furthermore, sly details in the frames foreshadow that the children are heading towards extraterrestrial territory, as indicated by “Intergalactic street” on the GPS monitor and the generic FBI number the boy is labeled as, which reads “E67588” (perhaps E stands for “extraterrestrial”?).
As the video continues, a religious theme begins to seep through the frames. When the little girl begins to glow, the video cuts to a close-up of an FBI agent with a tattooed cross on his neck and a Triquetra knot on his shirt. While being a religious symbol of the Holy Trinity, the Triquetra knot also represents life, death and rebirth and the three forces of nature: earth, air and water. This may be a reference to the awakening of the children and the natural forces they possess as well as the creation of the earth through the four elements. The three circles of the Triquetra depict an eternal nature of the Trinity, which has no beginning and no end. Thereby, the cycle of life and its continuation in another dimension is hinted.
The triangular shape of the Triquetra knot is also depicted in the first video of the trilogy, illustrating the lanky blonde girl floating three car tires in the air. This shape is, perhaps accidentally or symbolically, repeated in the children’s triangular arm positioning as they conduct their ritual in church. The church, as indicated in the first video through M83’s lyrics “the city is my church”, is a creator and a vessel for the children through which they absorb energy and discover their pathway into the galaxy. As the children fade away with a vivid light, the energy they acquired seeps from their bodies as their spirits float into another dimension to be reborn.
The transmission of the children into another dimension delves into the philosophical question of whether or not time and space exist independently of each other and our minds. Does time other than the present moment exist outside of us? What is the nature of our identity over time? Does time pass chronically and simultaneously in a different dimension? As we can observe in the final part of the trilogy, the nature of time changes through destruction following the children’s departure, reforming the identity of the earth and bearing life to a new nation.
