The Man
“What… where… where am I? I can’t see anything… Something is wrong here.” Watching minute 46 for the first time, I feel panicked. Panicked because I seem to have woken up only seconds ago, and I feel like being caught in a room. I do not know what the room looks like or if it is a room at all because my attention is attracted by the street I see. I cannot see it properly because there are black stains in front of my eyes. Are they real? Or am I dreaming? Somebody must have hit me on my head.
“The man on the balcony… what is he doing there?”
Suddenly I notice him. He is the reason why I feel so uncomfortable. There are people walking and running around, and I see cars driving. He is the only one who barely moves. Standing on a balcony – or at least on a house’s wall – he seems to be up to something. I try to catch a glimpse of what he is doing there but I cannot. The black stains keep coming and going; they make me feel nervous, and I sense that something bad is going to happen. The thought of terrorism instantly comes to my mind.
“He’s got a gun! The man on the balcony! Run! You need to run!”
Nobody reacts. Not a single person seems to hear me, although I have already started screaming as loud as I can. Now I can smell smoke, and I think this is connected to the black stains. They must be real, and the disaster has already taken its course while I am paralyzed. They seem so calm.
“Can’t you hear me? Run! Run away! Come on!”
Why can’t they hear me? Don’t they want to hear me? Do they know more about this whole thing than I do? I feel powerless. What did I do to be brought here and to have to watch people being in danger without being able to help? Now! Now they are running! They hear me! They finally hear me! I feel a touch of relief. I want to encourage the others to follow them, but then I see that nobody runs anymore. They ran from a car – they should run for their lives! In utter despair, I take a deep breath and prepare to scream as loud as I can when I sense that I cannot stop the way the story goes: “Can’t you hear me? Run! Run away before he-“
Stop it. He is just holding a film camera.
Antonia Reuther
“What… where… where am I? I can’t see anything… Something is wrong here.” Watching minute 46 for the first time, I feel panicked. Panicked because I seem to have woken up only seconds ago, and I feel like being caught in a room. I do not know what the room looks like or if it is a room at all because my attention is attracted by the street I see. I cannot see it properly because there are black stains in front of my eyes. Are they real? Or am I dreaming? Somebody must have hit me on my head.
“The man on the balcony… what is he doing there?”
Suddenly I notice him. He is the reason why I feel so uncomfortable. There are people walking and running around, and I see cars driving. He is the only one who barely moves. Standing on a balcony – or at least on a house’s wall – he seems to be up to something. I try to catch a glimpse of what he is doing there but I cannot. The black stains keep coming and going; they make me feel nervous, and I sense that something bad is going to happen. The thought of terrorism instantly comes to my mind.
“He’s got a gun! The man on the balcony! Run! You need to run!”
Nobody reacts. Not a single person seems to hear me, although I have already started screaming as loud as I can. Now I can smell smoke, and I think this is connected to the black stains. They must be real, and the disaster has already taken its course while I am paralyzed. They seem so calm.
“Can’t you hear me? Run! Run away! Come on!”
Why can’t they hear me? Don’t they want to hear me? Do they know more about this whole thing than I do? I feel powerless. What did I do to be brought here and to have to watch people being in danger without being able to help? Now! Now they are running! They hear me! They finally hear me! I feel a touch of relief. I want to encourage the others to follow them, but then I see that nobody runs anymore. They ran from a car – they should run for their lives! In utter despair, I take a deep breath and prepare to scream as loud as I can when I sense that I cannot stop the way the story goes: “Can’t you hear me? Run! Run away before he-“
Stop it. He is just holding a film camera.
Antonia Reuther