Still Time is an Italian film by director Alessandro Aronadio. It is a very interesting film with a time jumping sequence included to provide a very strong reflection on the realities of today’s hyper-capitalistic lifestyle. The protagonist, Dante, is a corporate employee who can be aptly described as a workaholic. Things take a sharp turn when, after his 40th birthday, each day he goes to bed, he rises up a year later. On his 41st birthday, he gets married; on the second day he wakes up, they are expecting a kid; on the third day, he has a kid; subsequent days pass, equivalent to a year, and when he goes to his workplace, he becomes the director; as few days passed is equivalent to years.
He even seeks medical help, but alas, everything is normal. Folks around him—his wife, kid, and colleagues—experience his normal passing of time. It is only Dante, for whom by each passing day he has left a year behind. So each day he gets up (an entire year has passed), he wakes up on his birthday and tries to be nice to his wife, Alice, but she shrugs off this behaviour, cussing him that every year only on his birthdays he has time for family, and the rest of the 364 days he is engulfed in work, work, and more work. The movie beautifully captures the essence of the modern economic paradigm, the nature of work, and the resulting careers, especially in corporate and multi-national companies where employees are no better than bounded labours of the bygone stone age; probably they had more autonomy and control over their lives, as work from home and laptops and mouse are tied around our necks round the clock. The film has good situational humour, as one day when he wakes up, he doesn’t recognise his daughter or her name until Alice tells him that she is her daughter. As indicated by the title, one of the themes of the movie is whether there is still time to withdraw or find balance in the rat race of digging up more and more materiality in search of success and happiness.
One of the key takeaways in the film comes from its central character, Dante, who shakes you to the core. In the slumber or simulation life that we are breezing through, where our life’s mission is similar to the shifting goalposts of material possession, the most important things in our lives are put on the back burner. In this film, Dante, who is working his socks off to provide for his family but is so engrossed or glued to his work life, ends up losing Alice and his daughter Galadriel. Similarly, the hustle and bustle of career and work distract us from focusing our attention on ourselves, our family, and society in general. This is one of the prisons of our modern times. The glorification of endless work hours in offices as bravery and valour that should be torn down is also a message from the movie. This movie also discusses the role of marital relations. Husbands being expected to be the breadwinner and having no role in the upbringing of children is a stark reflection of the times we live in. Another aspect is that modern life is so hectic and cramped that we hardly have time for meditation, a stroll in the park, or a visit to our loved ones, and these are the things that, as Orwell said, watching a toad in the lake also gives meaning to life.
I strongly recommend that readers watch this movie and reflect!
Nihal is from Karnataka, has graduated in Automobile engineering, and hopped on to get an MBA degree. He also has done his Masters in sociology.