My LOST Moment

Yannick, 24 – Dakar (Senegal) :

My favorite Lost moment is undoubtedly the first meeting between Eko and the Monster. The Smoke Monster was a total enigma, so just to see him from a close perspective was an event for me. Add this fact to the very ambiguous, mystical character represented by Eko and it was certain that this fascinating duel was a clue to solve the mystery of Lost. In this quietly spectacular face to face, Eko sees the monster comes, but instead of running, he decides to confront him. The look on Eko’s face shows fear thus, but mostly courage. Then, the camera makes a 180° turn, and we can briefly have a look inside the dark smoke. Finally, the cloud seems to disolve, and we’re seeing the monster go back while Eko stands on foot, the camera closely focused on his breathless face.
What Lost concepters were trying to symbolize here? Only them knows… There was no physical fight, no blood spell. It was a psychological duel. Not only on the Island, but mostly, inside Eko’s mind. In Nigeria, Eko was born to be a warlord, it was his fate and he followed it, in opposition to his brother, Yemi, who choosed to embrace religion. Like most of the crash survivors, he is tormented by his past. He experiences a revelation on the Island and find faith, a faith who needed to be tested by the Island. This scene shows a man who found hope and who decided to stop running away his past mistakes: he now faces them with courage, as he faces the smoke monster. While the camera makes a 180° turn, we can see inside the smoke cloud and the screen becomes almost entirely black, just like someone closing his eyes and facing his own conscience. In episode 3×05, “The Cost of Living”, Eko will be finally killed by the Monster… On the Island, past mistakes, even forgiven, are never forgotten.