APOCALYPSE ON WHEELS

Bumper-to-bumper traffic in Bucharest. As the vehicles laboriously wind their way through the noise and fumes, the camera zooms in tentatively, cuts through the public exterior of metal, tyres, engines and smog to penetrate the generally more anonymous interior of the cars with their drivers. Who are these people in the traffic jams? Who’s going where, and why? The lights regulate the traffic; red and green signals direct the interviewees; and a few drivers tell their own personal stories. The policeman is out to crack down on traffic offenders, and talks about rules and the need for compliance. A woman with her small son as passenger recalls her intercontinental travels. The delivery staff from a Chinese restaurant express their surprise about how readily their student customers pay their bills. Two disabled men are sharing vehicle converted to their needs. Technical requirements dictate that the handling of a motor vehicle is always the same, but even in these trivial actions, characteristic traits and moods emerge. Personality expressed over the operation of a machine; the traffic jam, that symbol of the stress of urban life, broken down into islands of calm, into personal comfort zones of the private here-and-now. A psychological study that sounds its own horn as it connects the heartbeat of the city with the people driving through it.