Gerry

Drama, USA 2002, 98 min, English with German subtitles

A Beckettesque situation and a drama based on a true story: two friends, both named Gerry, drive in silence through a seemingly endless landscape. When they see the sign “Wilderness” they get out and start hiking to see a “thing” at the end of the trail. They pass increasingly sparse scrub plants, mountains and rocks as they approach the desert. They walk, talk, smoke and run – but when they decide they’ve had enough, they realize that they are lost. Under the burning desert sun, they gradually grow more exhausted and dehydrated, until finally one Gerry begs the other to put him out of his misery … . Although the emotion – and the dialogues and plot – are kept to a minimum, the viewer gets a deep sense of the gradual desperation that grips the two men ... . The film, developed by Van Sant and the two lead actors, Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, won the Visions Award at the Toronto International Film Festival 2002.