Moshari is an intriguing Bangladeshi short that draws you into its dark narrative in its opening shots.  Director Nuhash Humayun sets the mood with images of flies buzzing on an animal carcass juxtaposed to images of a lush marshy plain brimming with vegetation.  Perhaps the reason the vegetation is thriving may be due to a pandemic wiping out most of humanity. 

At a camp with some of the few people left in the world, a loudspeaker announces that religion will offer no salvation and that most of the Western world has not survived “them.”  The “them” the voice in the loudspeaker refers to are the carriers of the pandemic—mosquitoes.  

“Moshari” translates to “mosquito net.”  Our protagonists are two sisters—the older one (Sunerah Binte Kamal) acts as a protective guardian of her younger sister.  Older sister is meticulous in sealing off any entry points for mosquitoes, including a mosquito net over the bed.  Moshari is beautifully filmed.  The cinematography blends colors and darkness in magnificent fashion. 

It is also a film brimming over with thematic depth.  Blood is used as an allegory for both life and death.  Blood suckers in Moshari run the gamut—from mosquitoes, to vampires, to Western colonial powers who have exploited much of the Global South.  While Humayun does a great job of building dread, the film’s turn toward magical realism and horror will lose most viewers. 

This pivot toward horror seemed unnecessary given where Moshari seemed to be going.  One can only hope that Humayun’s future projects veer away from genre conventions.

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