Vindication (2006, Review)

Director:  Bart Mastronardi

Cast:  Keith Fraiser, Jerry Murdock, Alan Rowe Kelley, Marc Masters, William Archiello

R-Squared Films / Not Rated / NTSC Region 1 / 1.33:1 Full Screen / Stereo / Color / 76 Minutes / PURCHASE

Guilt.  An emotion response caused by regret after a certain act.  Many of us feel guilt every single day of our pitiful existence and for the most part do nothing about it because in the end, cowardice shields us from doing anything righteous or proper.  How can anybody overcome being a yellow-bellied chump and handle their issues of guilt?  There are various ways to deal with guilt; some folks tend to their guilt by starvation which leads to an unhealthy lifestyle of shedding dangerous amounts of pounds while others stuff their face as if food was going out of style.  In worst cases, the guilt bares down so unmercifully that it forces the weakest of people to an unfortunate suicide attempt.  For director Bart Mastronardi, another way to express regret can be called anything but normal as the guilt invents a monstrosity in your conscience; this sort of “Drill Sergeant” type of subconscious that provides a vindication for you, wanting you to use regret to stand up for yourself and extremely punish those who block your way.  Mastronardi’s Vindication provides a powerful and effective coping mechanism… in a psychopathic kind of way.

Nicholas Betram is having a hard time with life as his mother committed suicide, his father has disowned him and he has barely enough money to cover rent.  Nicholas’ problems don’t stop there.  Weird and disturbing hallucinations plague him and a personal demon tries to convince him to let go of his draining and unmerciful guilt in a murderous way.  Nicholas becomes a soldier of his regrets and turns them into something more dangerous than what anyone else close to him could have ever imagined.

Vindication for me is a good example of a low budget film.  What comes across mostly in these types of films is constant exposition.  With Mastronardi’s film, the images never cease from the screen and we are only subjected to short bursts of conversations which are pivotal to the story and not just random and trivial dialogue moments.  Mastronardi has a certain tastes for loneliness and isolation. Nicholas is presented extraordinarily well with this idea of isolation.  It’s like nobody can stand to be around him and shun him as if he has some kind of disease.  The only friend in Nicholas’ life is his subconscious that tries to help him in his struggles.  We empathize with his problems yet we may not have experienced them ourselves though these issues are currently dealt with day in and day out by many people.

Vindication plays off mostly like a play; in fact, the stage would be a perfect place for this film.  Most of the delivered lines seemed to be in rhyme or in rhythm and no naturally acted out dialogued comes across.  The fact is that it doesn’t matter here as there were some great performances even from the smallest of parts.  Keith Fraiser does a remarkable performance of capturing the sorrows of Nicholas; he sends his pain right through the television screen and into us.  However, Vindication’s highlight actors are Marc Masters and Alan Rowe Kelley.  Marc Masters plays as Dante and Nicholas’ subconscious demon.  As Dante, he delivers no lines, but there is power behind his face and his gait alone.  As the subconscious, he speaks in confidence and aggression.  These scenes with Nicholas and the subconscious are much in the same as Travis Betz’s Lo where the demon Lo and the main character interact in the cover of darkness.  Kelley depicts an unorthodox and an unusual psychic named Urbane.  This transgendered actor portrays Urbane to be mysterious and much creepier than Marc Master’s could ever deliver with the subconscious demon which had stunningly detailed makeup work.

Vindication is no slacker in the low budget world.  Consider it a brutal wake up call to the guilty.  Mastronardi’s film is deliciously disturbing and his grim look into a subconscious that slowly eats away at you will have anyone trembling.  Though somewhat of a slow beginning, the story itself needs time to build up to a ravished rave full of mayhem.  The rave scene, even though a bit pointless to the plot, is perhaps my favorite scene in the entire film and you must see it to be actually feel and believe the intensity of it.  Vindication hits DVD on April 13th courtesy of R-Squared Films on their Big Bite Entertainment label.  Definitely pick up your copy or else guilt will eat you from the inside out!

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