Freelancer (11:46)
Dust.tv; Film Shortage; IMDb; YouTube; Zach Ramelan

This 2019 short film was presented by Dust in 2022.

A freelance paramedic takes a call to help an injured woman, while an operator on an earpiece feeds him information. He's presented with an ethical dilemma, the nature of which I don't want to spoil. I will, however, say that he does the right thing, with unfortunate results. It's an interesting short, in the end, though it's really not until the end that it truly captured my appreciation. And even then... well, the end is just depressing and maddening, which is what makes the short worthwhile, but still not what I would call particularly enjoyable. It's a good story, which parallels economic trends in the real world, and that really makes you see some of the deep flaws in capitalism, I would say. You know, putting profit over people. Its realism is part of what makes it so painful.