User:Rosswebber

Hund (Film)

Hund (2011) is a teen drama film produced and written by Ross Webber and filmed and edited by David Barrett. It tells the story of scholarship student Marco Colombo (Freddie Morrison) who experiences a harsh social climate when he moves from Italy to England and eventually loses his mind. The film explores themes of loss, depression, suicide, non acceptance, and psychology. The film was made on a 'shoe string' budget of just £200 after filming finished in the spring of 2011. It had its world premiere on August the 2nd showing to close friends and family.

Plot

Hund begins with the chronological end of events for the characters. An Italian teenage boy is shown to be lying in the road, badly beaten up after having been hit by a car. The audience learns that this is Marco Colombo (Freddie Morrison). He dies as the scene progresses opening his jacket to reveal the word 'Hund' (German for dog).

Chronological events are told as a flashback and begin with Marco and Maria Di Rossi (Victoria Bottomley) walking through fields in Tuscany together. Marco informs his best friend and love interest that he is leaving Italy to go to Alton College in England to pursue a creative writer's scholarship. Their goodbye is difficult with Maria rejecting Marco's advances but their friendship is untarnished.

Marco arrives at Alton College and quickly finds an inhospitable atmosphere shown by a disillusioned teacher (David Barrett) and main antagonist of the film, Luke Fox (Henry Williams). Luke fakes a friendship with Marco after becoming jealous that his previously unchallenged writing talent is put to the side by Marco's superior writing. After Marco and Maria argue across the phone and stop talking Luke shows his true colours and burns Marco's photo of Maria and himself - inciting the teacher's rage who thought Marco had burnt it.

While escaping a detention Marco meets Kyle Smith (Alex Yelland) who warms to Marco as he wants to be truly different like Marco is. They become friendly but Luke's psychological bullying eventually takes it's toll on Marco. After believing that Maria has left him for good he cracks when Kyle tells him Luke is behind the bullying. Marco shoots Luke after a brief confrontation and the guilt begins to set in immediately.

2 weeks later and 2 weeks before Marco's death the guilt and the psychological trauma as well as homesickness are all taking their toll on Marco's mind. He is seen drunk in graveyards having visions of Maria and an almost ghostly Luke. After a meeting with Kyle in which Kyle suspects Marco of killing Luke, Marco decides he has lost his final friend, and his only reason to live. He throws himself in front of a car, which is ironically carrying Maria who has come to England to be with Marco, in full view of Kyle who has realised what is happening.

The film returns to the scene of the first scene. Marco's post mortem thoughts tell the audience that no single event can be only negative and that there will be something to come of his death. Something new. The film ends as Maria and Kyle, who were brought together by Marco's death, sit together and watch the sun rise after the night of Marco's death.

Characters

Marco Colombo - Main protagonist of the film. Marco is an often unsure and shy Italian teenager with an extraordinary talent for writing in English gained from an English father. His paranoia and over complexing of everything become his downfall however when he cannot deal with the psychological trauma Luke puts him through. He becomes insane as the events of the film affect him and is shown at the end to be obsessed with the idea of being 'normal'/

Luke Fox - Main antagonist of the film. Coming from a broken home, Luke has endured psychological trauma as a child and is a sociopath. His influence over the college and his simple ways of damaging a mind are effective in breaking down a troubled Marco but his weak physical form stops him from achieving anything more.

Maria Di Rossi - Serving as the love interest of Marco in the film, Maria is a beautiful young girl who too loves Marco but has trouble with him being so far away from her. She is very uptight about her chosen subjects of mastery and enjoys speaking the English language on a regular basis even though she is Italian.

Kyle Fox - Desperate to be different, Kyle is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise challenging film. His comedy and willing to live life to it's fullest appeal to Marco, the man that Kyle idolises. Kyle is popular at college but does not let this distract from his duties as a friend to unpopular Marco.

The Teacher - An unnamed part, the teacher makes three appearances while having a shifting personality. He is shown to be disillusioned with working as a teacher until Marco's writing sparks his interest again. However his selfish attitude and inability to listen to the truth make him unhelpful to Marco.

Main Images

Hund - Marco is referred to as a dog at the beginning of the film. He gains this image by never truly managing to fit in and by letting Luke's bullying control him.

The Car - Marco does a lot of his thinking in cars but by the end his psychological state makes him reject ones that aren't 'normal'. He uses them as a way to get from A to B when he goes to England and when he goes to his death.

New = Good - The strap line for the film is 'Something New' - the title of one of the songs in the film. Aside from the bullying of change by Luke and the college atmosphere new things are always regarded as good in the film and that change will eventually lead to something good happening.