How does "Portals" begin with an enigma?

 

How does "Portals" begin with an enigma?


The short film "Portals" starts with the main character already being locked up. There is no explanation of why she is there or how she got there in the first place. The prison it self could be considered a character of the film that represents the invisible person (or antagonist) that wants to keep her locked up. The mystery is intensified with the fact that there is no dialogue at all and the moment where she believes she is free, she makes a little noise for the first time which catches the attention of the audience. 

The room design where she is staying is very simple and everything is grey. It does not give any types of clues to the audience or the character about where she is and the only thing that asserts that someone is watching is the security camera installed in a corner of the room. Once again, there is no hint of who could be behind all of it and there is no proper enemy that the woman could fight to either win or lose her freedom forever. 

When she wakes up in the floor and finds herself bleeding because of the bar-code printed on her skin we can see that a wall is full with marks, representing the days spent there. She looks surprised, like she does not remember being there before, meaning that her memory could have been erased or that she is in some kind of a loop. A loop where she wakes up without remembering anything, the "prison" gives her a futuristic weapon, she tries to escape and then finds herself imprisoned once again. Starting all over again. 




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