Essay on THE RAID 2: BERANDAL - published in Reverse Shot’s symposium on technical advances

I enjoyed researching and writing the role of the handheld gimbal in Gareth Evans’ pencak silat masterpiece from Indonesia, THE RAID 2 for Reverse Shot.

Crucial to this hyperdynamic effect on a cinema audience is the single long take, engorged with movement and clarity. Cutting would add kinesis artificially, which would destroy our appreciation of the natural speed and evolution of the movement itself, and thereby dilute the intensifying effect which organically belongs to silat. The ability of Evans and his crew to capture and harness the controlled chaos of silat in minute detail without cutting is fundamental to the formal design of The Raid 2. Without image stabilization, a lot of that precious detail, and consequently the viewer’s appreciation of the pace and skill on show, would be lost.