Sztuka spadania

It is not about how hard is producing animations. The topic is much more deep. The short tells how human life is wasted in making real the project of war. In war, soldiers are sent to die for beautiful causes like destroy Vietnam to save democracy, steal the oil of Iraq or make a cartoon with corpses.Only people who make war can feel "beautiful" that kind of art: the art of war.

For example, Hitler wanted to make a perfect race, no matter the sacrifice done or people to kill: he sees art in what he does, but no other people, thats why the theater in the short is empty.

Also you can find a superb animation and a fresh way to expose the anti-war message.

More than 20 years after the release of this computer-animated short film, I don't think much has changed in how the mighty and powerful send soldiers to their deaths for nonsensical and selfish reasons. In this case, the leader-who, dare I say, reminds me of one of today's more controversial figures-orders his obedient soldiers to their deaths for the sake of his macabre artistic creations.

All the characters are depicted in a caricatured style. The soldiers are thin and small, resembling Mort Walker's comic strip character Beetle Bailey, while the higher-ups are large and heavyset, more like Sarge from Walker's comics. At the same time, the film includes clear nods to real-life figures from the darker side of military history. I suppose it's all about emphasizing the archetypal divide between those in power and those who blindly serve them.

For an early 2000s animated film, the computer animation quality is quite impressive, and its dark comedy will at least make you smile a bit. But the film's most important aspect is undoubtedly its powerful anti-war message-one that should make us stop and reflect on why we continue to carry out these senseless actions, all to serve the selfish interests of a powerful few, even when it ultimately costs us everything.

After the award-winning Cathedral (Katedra, 2002), Fallen Art (Sztuka Spadania) is Tomasz Baginski second computer-animated short film.

Like The Cathedral, Fallen Art is a breathtaking show of animation, which will undoubtedly please all fans of computer artwork, but not only. Baginski's care for detail and his characteristic style are even more evident than in his first film - it's a real treat.

And let's not forget just a little touch of macabre... well maybe even a bit more than a little this time...

All in all, a great piece of art. If you think you've seen great computer animation in full-length movies like "Sky Captain..." or "Shrek" or whatever, then see "The Cathedral" and "Fallen Art" and think again. Baginski's in a class all of his own.

I had to make a short presentation for a work not so long ago, using this short film as background and I was quite delighted with it. The fact that I didn't know any work of this filmmaker has led to even more my admiration. There was so much in so short time I could talk about, first with details that are immense, starting with the title, the fact of not having human speech, symbolisms, plus a multitude of them in this cyclical story without end, where everything fit together but you're not quite sure what the main message is. And therein lies the joke of what parallelism may exist with the days of yesterday, today and tomorrow, with different reading each one of us will have after seeing it. I really believe that the major objective of this short was achieved, have fun (yes, because although we are facing a very dramatic story, the humor isn't a foreign language) and bring all the ingredients for us to cook with our imagination and perhaps even more than that.

It is interesting how everybody was astonished by the visualization in Katedra and in this one. And nobody dig into the story behind. But Beginsky's stories are more than just an add on to the graphics.

This masterpiece tells us how some individuals can decide about life and death, and what the army really is. Soldiers are just a tool to achieve the goal of the art called WAR.

While the Katedra is more the critique to the church. The man is alone and when the church shows him the 'light' he's captured forever.

In my opinion Beginski tries to describe the problems in a more subtle way with great visualization and 3D graphics.