Neighbours (Nachbarn)

In January 2007 I went to London expressly to attend part of a two-month long Luis Bunuel retrospective held at the National Film Theatre where I caught up with all but one of the remainder of his films. During that same period, a concurrent season of movies featuring Humphrey Bogart (on the 50th anniversary of his death) and Lauren Bacall and another one dedicated to Canadian animator Norman McLaren were also held. Although I am a fan of Animation in general, I was a bit wary of McLaren's work falling in the abstract branch of it but had always been interested in checking it out regardless since the late British film critic Leslie Halliwell deemed his best-known piece BEGONE DULL CARE (1949) worthy of his full **** rating. While the latter was indeed one of several shorts I managed to catch during that one particular evening, I cannot say I was sufficiently impressed to follow it up on my own time, as it were. Still, learning that 3 more films of his were nominated for the Best Short Subject Academy Award, I decided it was high time to reacquaint myself with McLaren's oeuvre given my ongoing Oscar marathon.

The 8-minute short under review is the only one of the three to emerge victorious and deservedly so; bafflingly, this won in the Best Documentary Short category while also being nominated for Best Short Subject. The simple plot deals with two neighbors who spend a lazy afternoon basking in the sun and reclining on a chair reading newspapers in front of their respective house but, tellingly, the headlines of one newspaper is completely belied by the other's. Suddenly a flower spurts out from a seed sown right beneath their feet and, after their initial mutual admiration for it, each one lets greed get the better of him and both start claiming it as their own private property. This sets off a battle of wills that soon turns increasingly physical, irrationally violent and ultimately fatal for all three parties; the scene where one erects a barricade between the two houses enclosing the flower on his side of the fence while the other relocates the latter to his advantage or having the flower use its petals to, as it were, take cover from its battling masters adds a nice touch of Surrealism.

However, the film's real coup comes at the end when, having trampled on the flower during their struggle, both men are overtaken by a feverish bloodlust that sees them enter each other's home and murder the occupants (a wife and a baby in both cases) through vicious kicking or throwing about! By this time, the violent men have adopted Indian warpaint on their faces and, when they eventually expire, the once-important white fence is transformed into crosses on each respective grave that have been dug where the houses used to stand. With time, more flowers bloom both on the graves themselves and on the earth surrounding them. The end titles, then, is an animated collage of the phrase "Love Thy Neighbor" in various languages. Although the film was originally issued sporting a monotone electronic score by McLaren himself (also available on "You Tube"), I elected to watch it accompanied by a score (recorded in 2010) by an obscure outfit named Versa that very effectively counterpoints the on screen action.

. . . so-called "Canadians" are akin to legendary or mythical creatures, not unlike Bigfoot, Sasquatch or the Abominable Snowman, aka Yeti. It's safe to say that for every ONE Canadian--perhaps a visiting Blue Jay or Maple Leaf--a Dallas or Houston resident has seen, he or she has glimpsed 10,000 Mexicans. Now, when it comes to plugs for our tourist industry, our Single Star State governor is very careful to follow the Truth-in-Advertising Rule Book. That's why ALL of our "Come Hither" spots remind visitors to pack as least a couple AR 15's or AK 47's so that they can Stand Their Ground when necessary. Strangely, this film from the Canadian Tourist Agency depicts their Far North Icebox as a backwater stuck in a Stone Age rut of vicious hand-to-hand combat, where no one is packing heat. Therefore, they deserve a relatively high mark for warning normal people such as Americans to STAY AWAY from the Frigid Fiends of French-English Cat-Dog Canada, and contribute some of the travel dollars saved to support BANGS: Broke Americans Need Gun Stamps.

This is a rather heavy-handed but well made animated short about war. While the message is presented through "sledgehammer symbolism" (i.e., it wasn't exactly subtle), the film's stop-motion cinematography was very nice and well done. It certainly is interesting.

The movie begins with two normal looking 1950s era guy sitting outside their cutout homes. Both are sitting in lounge chairs reading their newspapers (which, in a not so subtle move, have headlines about war). Then, suddenly, a flower appears on the border of their yards and both think it's the most wonderful flower in the world. However, because they both love it so much, they begin fighting over it--almost like in a Tom & Jerry movie! At first, it's kind of funny, but when it degenerates to attacking their wives and babies, the joke is over. Ultimately, it ends on a very fitting note.

norman mclaren's neighbours is a masterpiece of animation- it entertains, educates, and satirizes, all at once.

the plot of the film is simple, and predictable: two neighbours are fighting over a flower, which seems to fall directly between their two properties. naturally, the two fight over the flower until both they and the flower are destroyed.

however, underneath that simple plot, there lies a strong anti-war message. it points out that war does not allow for winners, only losers; and it reminds us that we've been known to forget why, exactly, we're fighting each other, killing each other, as well as each other's families.

the battle is shown with live-action/stop-go animation- which allows the effects of the flower on the two men to be exagarrated easily. this suits the film well, giving a serious topic a little light-heartedness.

an interesting side-note- the soundtrack was not recorded, but rather hand-painted (by mclaren himself) onto the soundtrack. this gives the soundtrack a boxy, nintendo-like quality.

in my mind, this film could sit easily with modern anti-war classics; never too preachy, never too simple.

truly enjoyable.

This short, which combines live-action with stop-motion animation, was nominated for two Oscars and won for Best Documentary Short. The events depicted become more ironic as they unfold and to describe any of the details to any great degree would be unfair to the short and to future viewers. Totally recommended.