THE CLERK (Feature Film)
An absolute must-see for all film lovers who are deeply passionate about the theme of compulsory military conscription within a universal human rights context.
Starring an impressive cast of young Swedish actors and actresses, “THE CLERK” follows the daily office life of a young female medical clerk who works in a military conscription centre. In an atmosphere of high official intimacy, she deals – one after the other – with numerous young male and female conscripts who, as adults, must, according to the law, submit themselves to the medical procedures which will decide whether they are fit for military service or not.
Within the strict institutional environment which practically gives the female clerk discretionary powers, she many times treats the conscripts in different preferential manners – often displaying a dominant behaviour and infringing on their elementary right to privacy. Dramatically deprived of their human rights, the young conscripts are reduced to available human objects – having no alternative but to obey the imposed rules of an oppressive official system which, in the end, makes the difference between (civil) life and (military) death. Some of them manage to cope with this potentially traumatic experience, while others protest or even collapse under the pressure of it – since any form of individual resistance or opposition is doomed to fail.
The above-named official intimacy – inevitably growing between the female medical clerk and each conscript she is dealing with – is cinematographically depicted as the utmost form of collective loneliness and individual isolation within a hostile society. Logically, the involuntary human exposure within the context of such official intimacy also leads to different forms of physical interest and attraction – and, paradoxically, even sentiments manage to appear, symbolically resulting into an impossible love story (since true love cannot exist between dominating human subjects and dominated human objects).
Ultimately, “THE CLERK” constitutes a perfect filmic X-ray of an insensitive world based on inhuman manipulation and exploitation.
Content Warning: This film contains extensive male and female full nudity in a medical context, and it is only suitable for a mature audience!
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