On The Roof is a moving and touching short film that packs a lot into the short eleven minutes that it lasts. The filmmakers took a relatively simple and banal event - boys in the throes of puberty sneaking to a rooftop to take a peak at a beautiful naked woman sunbathing - and transformed it into a powerful commentary on homophobia, bullying, and peer pressure.
I particularly enjoyed watching the rapid transformation of Adrián (Nil Cardoner) from someone who mostly follows the lead of Lucas (Roger Príncep) and his minions to his hilarious subversion of Lucas that results in him being expelled from that friend group. He tried first to surreptitiously watch the naked man on the other roof while the others watched, and seemed keen to avoid the aspersions cast upon him by Marcos, trying to throw the accusations of homosexuality back on him. When Lucas takes advantage of the situation to try to force Marcos to take a picture of the woman even as he breaks down, all while threatening to reveal Adrián's sexuality, something snaps within Adrián and he decides to directly take on Lucas. He saves Marcos by volunteering to take the picture, but instead of taking a picture of the woman, he hands the camera back to Lucas with a photo of the man instead, infuriating him and causing Adrián's expulsion from the group (his departure is met by a litany of homophobic slurs).
The film manages to show poignant and sadly apropos examples of bullying, coercion, and intimidation among adolescent boys, which all too often revolves around the harassment of those who aren't as "masculine" (whatever that means) as others. I felt myself cheering for Adrián on the inside at the end of the film, although his total isolation at the end of the film (embodied by him riding sullenly off on his bike by himself) is a logical but still mildly saddening end to the film.
I particularly enjoyed watching the rapid transformation of Adrián (Nil Cardoner) from someone who mostly follows the lead of Lucas (Roger Príncep) and his minions to his hilarious subversion of Lucas that results in him being expelled from that friend group. He tried first to surreptitiously watch the naked man on the other roof while the others watched, and seemed keen to avoid the aspersions cast upon him by Marcos, trying to throw the accusations of homosexuality back on him. When Lucas takes advantage of the situation to try to force Marcos to take a picture of the woman even as he breaks down, all while threatening to reveal Adrián's sexuality, something snaps within Adrián and he decides to directly take on Lucas. He saves Marcos by volunteering to take the picture, but instead of taking a picture of the woman, he hands the camera back to Lucas with a photo of the man instead, infuriating him and causing Adrián's expulsion from the group (his departure is met by a litany of homophobic slurs).
The film manages to show poignant and sadly apropos examples of bullying, coercion, and intimidation among adolescent boys, which all too often revolves around the harassment of those who aren't as "masculine" (whatever that means) as others. I felt myself cheering for Adrián on the inside at the end of the film, although his total isolation at the end of the film (embodied by him riding sullenly off on his bike by himself) is a logical but still mildly saddening end to the film.
