The Voorman Problem

The Voorman Problem is a 2011 British short film directed by Mark Gill, who also co-wrote the screenplay and edited the film with producer Baldwin Li, who also wrote the score. It is adapted from "Panopticon", a film within a story from the novel number9dream by David Mitchell, with Martin Freeman starring as a prison psychiatrist, and Tom Hollander as his patient.[1]

The Voorman Problem
Film poster
Directed byMark Gill
Produced byBaldwin Li
Lee Thomas
Written byMark Gill
Baldwin Li
Based onnumber9dream
by David Mitchell
StarringMartin Freeman
Tom Hollander
Music byMark Gill
CinematographyPhil Wood
Edited byMark Gill
Baldwin Li
Release date
  • 1 October 2011 (2011-10-01) (Warsaw Film Festival)
  • 25 April 2013 (2013-04-25) (United Kingdom)
Running time
13 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The film premiered at the 2011 Warsaw Film Festival.[2] It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film.[3]

Plot

Dr. Williams (played by Martin Freeman) is hired by Governor Bentley (Simon Griffiths) to work as a prison psychiatrist after "The War in the East" has produced a doctor shortage. Williams is informed about the Voorman problem; a prisoner named Voorman (Tom Hollander) is convinced that he is a god and has convinced the rest of the prisoners who spend all day chanting in worship. It is unclear what Voorman's crime is due to a computer malfunction.

Williams interviews a straitjacketed Voorman in a locked room in the prison. Voorman calmly explains that he is a god, and that he created the world exactly nine days ago. When the Doctor objects, Voorman suggests a test of his powers. He will eliminate Belgium as proof he is a god.

At home a frustrated Wiliams tells his wife about the case. He laughingly brings the claim that Voorman will eliminate Belgium. His wife is confused, having no idea what Belgium is. Williams attempts to show her Belgium in an atlas but finds it is gone and replaced with a body of water called "Walloon Lagoon."

Back at the prison, Williams is baffled by the lack of any evidence of Belgium, but refuses to believe in Voorman's divinity. Voorman expresses his exhaustion with being a god and suggests the two switch places. In a flash the two have switched places, Voorman dressed as the well dressed doctor, and Williams disheveled and in a straitjacket. Williams calls for the guards and Voorman starts to leave stating that it is no use. As he leaves, Voorman advises Williams to "watch North Korea."

Voorman leaves the room as the sounds of the prisoners chanting get louder.

Cast
gollark: Of course, I think we really need 12 sniffers, 4 per dimension, so we can get good trilateration fixes.
gollark: * make 512 modems listen on 128 channels each
gollark: It's just a regular rednet one, not modem, right?
gollark: Why oh why did Minecraft invent its own ridiculous NBT format instead of one of the many binary JSON standards?!
gollark: Sure? But some of them presumably no longer exist inworld.

References
  1. "Cast & Crew". thevoormanproblem.com.
  2. "News – Page 4 – The Voorman Problem". Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  3. "Film in 2013 | BAFTA Awards". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved 6 December 2013.


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