Chromophobia

Many who have seen Chromophobia of Raoul Servais see it as an amusing and funny short animated film with no underlying message whatsoever. Certainly no political message. In fact, Chromophopia is not as innocent as it seems. Servais expresses his anti-communist vision in the film. Artistic freedom and creativity were important to Servais, and he saw communism as an enemy for this creativity. Also you have to view this film in his time (1966). Raoul Servais received the prize for "Best Animated Film" at the Venice Film Festival. He would never have won that prize if he made the political message in his film so obvious.

Anyway I find it brilliant how Servais used the very thin line between his political stance and artistic expression.

The film consists of a tiny army of men entering a town and shooting anything with color--making everything gray and dull. Then, once they obtained control, they put the people into a machine that erases who they are--making everyone the same. All ethnic differences are now gone and everyone is wearing prison garb. Into this horrible new world wanders a red jester. Can he do anything to change this situation or will he, too, become just another gray and miserable person?

CHROMOPHOBIA is a piece of the 1960s that seems to make less sense today than it did back then. First, while the animation is pretty ugly, for a 1960s film it actually looks pretty good. Sure, the frame rate and quality of the artwork is pretty poor, but this was the norm for this time period. Second, its message sure ain't subtle but as another observer pointed out, the message seemed to have a political edge--how Communism at the time was in favor of homogenization and conformity. Seen today, it's an entirely different film.