MartinHafer
The film begins with a bunch of very cutely animated kids out enjoying nature. The animals are adorable and love the children and seeing the kids cavorting with bunnies was kind of sweet. Then, an adult who is a magician arrives. He begins using his magic to turn the animals into cars and buses and the like. He then begins turning the trees and other plants into cities and factories. At first, the kids think this magic is cool, but eventually they have enough. And, magically, the cities all disappear and the animals return and everyone lives happily ever after. Hooray for niceness!! I am sure you would get a variety of reactions to this film if you showed it to a group of people today. Some would likely think it genius, some would likely think it was preachy and obvious--you can place me in the latter group. While I think it only prudent that we protect the environment (a strong message in the film), I also think its message is amazingly simplistic and preachy. No rational person would think we should pave over the planet and destroy all our animals and natural resources, but this film seems to say this is exactly what is occurring. Perhaps in 1975 this did make a lot of sense, as the planet was in much worse shape than it is today. Factories were dirtier, cars put out almost 20 times the pollution as cars today and our rivers and oceans were a mess. Sure, in 1975 things did look pretty bad and the dystopic world of SOYLENT GREEN looked to be in our near future! But, such simplistic messages tend to be ignored by many, as it's so one-sided and disingenuous.Overall, a message that is too simplistic. Nature is "nice" but all forms of civilization are NOT "evil" as the film seems to strongly suggest.
ital72
This film is a short beauty about the conflict between nature and modern urban life. This conflict also parallels the differences between childhood and adulthood. The naivety of the children links to nature as city life links with the only adult in the movie who appears as combination of a wizard and a devil. In short, the film begins with pastoral natural surroundings with children playing in their natural habitat until the stranger with a large drum on his back arrives and gradually turns all into one big visual and audio urban hell. Is the possible return to nature an illusion?The animation is beautiful and Frederic Back is an artist with great commitment to the environment.
