“Ten Meter Tower” is the epitome of Swedish film: quiet, slow-paced, and raw. One of the Sundance Shorts selected for the 2017 Sundance Film Tour, “Ten Meter Tower” places it’s “actors” – ordinary people who had never jumped off of a ten meter diving board – on a sparse set, consisting of just the diving board with unconcealed microphones recording them as they made the decision to jump, or not. The directors, Maximilien Van Aertryck and Axel Danielson, kept the focus on the diving board itself, sometimes juxtaposing two divers making the decision at different times and occasionally switching the frame to show them fall or emerge from the water.

We are used to presentations of courage in unusual situations with lots of drama, danger, and often ideals and/or lives at stake. But here was a very ordinary situation with everyday people, no dramatic lighting or music to distract from a decision that ultimately had no consequences. Here was a battle between instinct (it’s no wonder your body tells you not to drop into a ten meter free-fall) and intellect (you know it won’t hurt you, you’d be embarrassed to climb down), and even though it’s on a small scale, it’s deeply poignant. The film authentically captures what it is to be crippled by doubt and the effort it takes to overcome your fears and take the leap. Director Van Aertryck writes in a New York Times Op-Ed, “‘Ten Meter Tower’ may take place in Sweden, but we think it elucidates something essentially human, that transcends culture and origins. Overcoming our most cautious impulses with bravery unites all humankind. It’s something that has shaped us through the ages.” The film is a surprising revelation of this basic human struggle, and its quiet drama is captivating.

In the last scene, as if to say that our own private struggles are great drama in their own way, the unembellished style of the body of the film makes way for the classic drama of film: the camera follows the last diver in slow motion as she plummets to the water below, body turning over and over in her star-spangled swimsuit. “Ode to Joy” blasts triumphantly, and her feet slide smoothly into the water:

Gladly, as His heavenly bodies fly
On their courses through the heavens,
Thus, brothers, you should run your race,
As a hero going to conquest.

 

You can watch “Ten Meter Tower” and read more about it here.