Text / Willow Warbler
"Save Patrick" is the story of a Don Quixote-like hero who tries to turn the tide and bring the "simulator" back to life in the digital age. The protagonist of the film is Florian from Vienna, Austria. Because of the fanaticism for simulators, people give nicknames "Dr." In 2008, the Polaroid factory in the Netherlands was in the process of shutting down production, and polaroid films, which had fascinated generations, were about to cease to exist. After hearing this, the "doctor" scraped together the 180,000 euros needed to acquire the factory overnight, and rescued the production line from the brink of closure. The story of "Saving Polaroid" begins...
Perhaps everyone is still very unfamiliar with the concept of "simulator", but in fact, the equipment driven by analog signals has long existed in our lives for a long time - wired telephones, vinyl record players, film cameras, etc., and the application of simulators in daily life is everywhere. Before the millennium, they were synonymous with convenience and modernity, leading the way of life for the middle class for more than half a century. In contrast, digital technologies represented by smartphones are used. The rapid development of Silicon Valley around 2000, the first iPhone in 2007, in just two decades to rapidly digitize the world, the survival of the simulator has become precarious.
One of the backdrops for Saving Polaroid is the onslaught of the digital age. In an age where everyone is a mobile device, we hate our phone screens so much that we can't take our eyes off it. The birth of smart devices has led directly to the demise or elitism of once-popular things such as film cameras and record players, which have either been forgotten or put into the living rooms of rich people. In a nostalgic tone, "Save Patrick" traces the whole process of Florian's bloody acquisition of Polaroid film factory and the creation of the "Impossible Plan" in the form of oral interviews. However, the film does not stop at lamenting the passing of the Belle Epoque, but throws out a more in-depth topic: how can a seemingly technologically outdated simulator coexist with this digital age? Or, in the words of the filmmakers, how can the digital generation re-embrace simulator devices and the aesthetics behind them?
As a result, the film is not afraid to extend from Florian's story, in addition to continuing to tell the difficulties and successes encountered in the process of revitalizing Polaroid film in the "Impossible Plan", it also touches on the grand ambition of "Doctor" - to repackage vinyl records into unique experiential art, and even to try to pry the core team of the digital giant "Facebook" to co-host a small seminar on the future of the simulator... In this sense, the film's English title, "Mission Impossible," summarizes the film better than "Rescue LiDe," after all, the survival of the film camera is only a part of the film. It is precisely because the dreamers represented by Florian have many wild expectations that they can appear like the contemporary Don Quixote in the face of things that need to be saved. While it is true that many times they lack a sustainable business appeal (Florian was swept out of the "impossible plan" he founded, and the nascent team completed a phased revival of Polaroid), it is difficult to say that they did not have the vision to go into the museum because of their efforts to return to people's vision, and once again (even briefly) appear in daily life, and this pure sentiment alone deserves to be remembered more.
Interestingly, as a supporter of ancient culture, the film's creative team also chose to use 35 mm film to shoot the film. This of course means a lot of production costs, but it also ensures that the image texture is perfectly matched with the topic involved. "Save Patrick" does not try to draw any conclusions, it presents the current state of the development of things in a relatively neutral way, and gently proposes aspects that need to be deeply considered through the mouth of the protagonist. Perhaps, the dispute between the old and the new is not the core of the problem. At a time when digital technology is becoming an irreversible trend, how simulators and their supporters can hold their ground and regain their place in the daily life for these beautiful things is worth further discussion.
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