Apeiron (2013). Metaphysical Review by Jacklyn A. Lo

Metaphysical Movie Review by Jacklyn A. Lo – Apeiron (2013), Director Maria Ruotsala.

Apeiron, by Finnish woman director Maria Ruotsala, is a thought-provoking film that is itself a work of art.

Who am I?

The protagonist, Umbra, goes through the “Who am I?” process. He has an academic background and earns his living by lecturing students and examining patients with mental disorders. Therefore, his soul has a fairly high energy potential, which is typical for a mature soul.

Spiritual Journey

During his spiritual journey, Umbra makes some findings – he does not feel compassion for his patients, nor does he understand the meaning of human existence. Projecting his inner world onto the outer one, he concludes that people are not ruled by any Creator (i.e., God) but by blind chance.

Soul

As our thinking is a derivative of our consciousness, and our consciousness is a reflection of the qualitative energies of our soul, we can conclude that Umbra’s soul contains quite dark energies. As these energies are the result of his multiple-choice towards Darkness, such a person cannot feel either Creativity or a source of Creativity, i.e. God. And while talking about Free Will, Umbra does not even realize that he may no longer have it.

Humanity

Umbra’s wife, Iris, is presented in the film as an antagonist. Despite her partnership with Umbra, she retains humanity. Iris is shown to be more compassionate and understanding than Umbra, thus she represents the spiritual opposite of him.

Spiritual Choice

Aside from Umbra’s monologues to his students, it would have been great to have a strong dialogue between him and Iris in the final moments of the film, highlighting the spiritual opposite between the two. Ideally, it would be best to come up with a Spiritual Choice for Umbra and demonstrate a further change in himself – whether it is irrevocably towards Darkness or unexpectedly towards Ligh.

Any comments, questions, and/or suggestions are very welcome.

Notes

Find more about What is Spiritual Choice
Learn about multiple Spiritual Choices toward the Light in Redemption novel.
Discover Spiritual Choices toward Darkness via the novella “Tomo and the Soul Catchers”