Sztuka spadania

Set atop a rickety watch-tower with a platform more akin to a diving board, a troop of soldiers routinely keep watch, and just as routinely seem to plummet onto the concrete below - all handily timed for the awaiting photographer below to capture their new-found splatted-ness with his camera. The photographs are rushed indoors where they form the most unlikely source of ... art! Indeed, the larger than life "artist" seems to be able to reinvigorate the corpse's image on screen to mirror his own movements - just like dance! Such athleticism takes it's toll, though, and soon he must rest. Who is this mysterious and sinister puppeteer - or is he, too, just a puppet? They must have a never-ending supply of sentries too! Great stop motion animation with a wee bit of slap-stick and a good dose of the macabre!

Tomasz Bagiński's "Sztuka spadania" ("Fallen Art" in English) poses the question of what constitutes glory amid war. The main character makes short movies featuring the dead bodies of soldiers pushed off of a springboard onto a slab of concrete. In short, he turns the soldiers' entire history into his own entertainment. I get the feeling that Bagiński made this as a reference to his own government's participation in the invasion of Iraq. Poland's government, like the rest of the governments in the so-called coalition of the willing, joined up with the invasion and occupation despite massive opposition among its population. I don't know how many people Poland lost in that most ill conceived of wars. There can be no doubt that it will weigh on the Poles' conscience for decades to come.

Anyway, this is a good cartoon. The best cartoons are these short ones, as opposed to the features voiced by the celebrities of the moment.

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.

In a long deserted military base a high rickety tower stands high above the ground. At the top is an officer awarding medals to damaged soldiers who survived the war before pushing them to their death on the ground far below. At this point their corpses are photographed by another sinister man and the resulting image sent to his employer far from the site.

This is the whole plot of the short, apart from the detail of the ending which I'll not spoil beyond saying that it is oddly comic and darkly weird. In terms of straight animation the ideas and the creation of them are good as the short looks good but also seems to mix styles and produce animation techniques within other animation techniques. It also is delivered with a real sinister air that works well with the more comic (but still sinister) conclusion. So on this level I liked it as a film, but on the downside I did feel like it left me hanging a little bit.

It plays like a comment on the disposable nature of life to some within the military (this is a Polish film) whereas from a slightly different angle it appears to be commenting on the treatment of soldiers who no longer serve a use on the battlefield. And I could go on – there are a couple of different readings of this film but it doesn't really help the viewer to appreciate them. If there is a serious point here then the comic ending rather detracts from the seriousness of it; conversely if there is only a rather macabre creative theme to the short, the specifics of the start seem very, well, "specific" for there not to be a pointed commentary aspect to it.

Fallen Art still works as a short animation though and it is well created with a dark and sinister air to the comic of the grotesque. I just wish that it had been clearer to the viewer in regards what it was trying to be/do.

After seeing Tomek Baginski's "Katedra" I thought nothing could beat it. "Sztuka spadania" is at least as good as the previous film but impressive in a different manner. "Katedra" is a masterpiece of suspense, climate and superb computer graphics skills. In terms of craftsmanship, "Sztuka spadania" shows huge (I dare say) advancement in some areas of lighting, rendering and animation (here I bow low to the whole team of the film's creators). In terms of script/directing it's a whole different story. Whereas "Katedra" made me shiver in awe (realy!), "Sztuka spadania" made my sensors of wicked humor rage! Although some of the scenes might appear macabre, the whole idea, for me, is totally hilarious. The short story is brilliantly spiced up with the music of a Romanian brass band (Fanfare Ciocarlia I suppose). To cut the long story short, "Sztuka spadania" is a must see! BTW, if I could decide on the Oscars... ehh... Next time!