The Big Snit

As a bickering couple's fight about a scrabble game escalates, so does the war outside their home. This strange little Canadian animated tale of 'love in the ruins' was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1986 (losing to Cilia van Dijk's 'Anna & Bella'). The kinetic little feature is crudely but effectively animated and like many great cartoons, the background is full of deft touches that makes rewatching rewarding. The imagery borders on the surreal at times, notably the wife's habit of removing her eyes and shaking the pupils back into place and the husbands saw fetish (his favorite TV program is the game show "Sawing for Teens"). The cat is hilarious.

This hugely entertaining short is considered one of the best shorts ever, and I certainly won't argue with that. Even in a country where top-notch animated shorts are created with regularity, this film still manages to stand out. If you ever get the chance to view this film, please do so. It's only ten minutes long, and yet it contains a man who is obsessed with saws, a woman who vacuums the bathtub, and a nuclear war. What more could you want in a film?

Anyone who has ever played Scrabble with a loved one will know just how dangerous it can be if someone has a nice seven letter word and the other a collection of vowels that might only make a word used by a kid in a playground! Well that's what happens here when the couple are having a game and he is stuck. She's bored waiting, so goes and hoovers their home whilst he puts the television on and watches some of his favourite pastime - sawing! Yes, that's using a saw to cut through things. Not surprisingly, it has a rather soporific effect on him (and their dog) and when he awakes after a few idyllic dreams of days gone by, he takes a quick squint at her letters but is caught. She throws a bit of a paddy and he has to find a way to placate her. Meantime, the television announces that there's a nuclear war ongoing and that they mustn't smoke! It's a simple animation with bulging bodily features and a slightly surreal slant to it before a denouement that I did rather enjoy.

Richard Condie is a Canadian marvel, and one that should be shared with the world. Be it for gut-busting early work such as "Getting Started" and the Oscar-nominated "Snit" through "The Apprentice" and the digitally made "La Salla", Condie is a treasured local hero. But no singular piece of work puts a stamp on his career quite like "The Big Snit". And did I mention it was nominated for an Academy Award? Darn tootin'.

"The Big Snit", although clearly a dated message-bearer from the 1980s (the short revolves around Cold War-esquire nuclear annihilation, but don't worry – it's hilarious as hell), carries with it a larger meaning, as is most of Condie's work in an understated sort of way. While the planet scurries for cover from Armageddon, a couple bickers over each others' annoying habits (in true Condie fashion, he hacksaws the furniture while she shakes her eyes – literally). And don't forget to watch it again and again, 'cuz there's always something to look at. Condie loads this fella up with countless visual gags and memorable catch-phrases.

I strongly encourage this incredible piece of animation be tracked down. In Canada it's usually spotted in a National Film Board video that includes other stellar shorts (including fellow Winnipegger Cordell Barker's equally funny "The Cat Came Back"). Americans will just have to dig a little deeper, but keep at it – the reward is worth the toil.

This film is all about humans. This film stayed as my all time favorite short cartoon since!...

Isn't it the simplest things that make life so much more interesting?! We humans are so soft, compassionate, funny, caring to each other one moment -- we invent the most beautiful and amazing machines to kill as many people as possible with least effort the next. In our short lives, we destroy our world, each other and often, our own lives, than get together, try fixing what we've destroyed. Most of the time, there is nothing left to fix!

This film entertain, educate and even help us realize what is wrong in our lives (with us)! Life in general is short and can be even shorter! The ending of his movie is way too optimistic I am afraid.

I love Richard Condie's mind and what he makes happen with it!

Enjoy

H.K.