Do Geese See God?

The film is a metaphor for "the rat race." Get it? That's why the rat imagery appears throughout the film. All over the film. The film is a rant against the rat race. The lesson, therefore, is the more obvious "hey, we need to stop and 'smell the roses.'" I found the film enjoyable, and I accepted the recurring scenes as they were intended: without them, you'd have no film. So I simply didn't let the repetition get to me. I looked for inconsistencies in the images as I watched them again and again; that is, I looked for changes during the recurring events. (No, I didn't see any.) But, again, the rat race metaphor is really very clever, and I didn't understand the rat metaphor (assuming I'm correct) until the film started its second cycle. I did not find the "product placements" to be intrusive -- which I'm sure is what the film makers intended.

When I saw this on Amazon I believed their bit about an alternate ending. However, now I now realize that this movie's point is to slow us down in our daily lives and that the alternate ending is just a witty way to make people to take a break from their schedule. Like the title, which is the same when spelled backwards, this movie is just a play on images. I thought it was done wonderfully, and quite honestly I loved the camera work and the music. The only real fault I had was that the idea that a movie had to repeat itself just to slow us down was rather insulting to me, but I realized it needed to be done and served its purpose.

Another unique idea that I thought was presented very well was just the urgency all of us feel is required in life. By using cartoon characters the film showed how from when we are just a little kid we begin to hurry through life. Dr. Awkward, the main character, represented the American dream with his nice clothes and TV, yet that did not mean he had everything he wanted. That is why Karma is so central to the film, because time well spent is, at least according to the film, maybe fleeting but more essential than most of the time spent in one's life.

This film was about nothing at all and yet everything at the same time. This is why, after viewing this film the austerity of it all lingers with us, much like the scent of a freshly picked rose.

Chasing after God is a exercise in futility. Even if you find him, he may end up being a monster just waiting to feast on you. So you are better off coming up with your own image of him as a celebration of his creation. Oh by the way, don't forget to stop and smell the roses and enjoy his creations. Don't become a monster yourself in his image as you miss the point in those cases. Did I get all that seeing the short skit? Everything but the last line! Similar sentiments are echoed in the Bhagavad Gita and is the driving force behind Karma. So hug your wife and kiss your kids goodbye and make the world a happier place! It's so easy and yet we make it so difficult! Drop your attitude in the trash can and smell the roses! Slow down!

What a fantastic short!

I would not have picked up on Dr. Awkward being a palindrome without the help of other reviewers, so I wanted to add some thoughts to the theme as well. Did anybody notice that the shoulder bag strap that the human/rat wears is labeled with the infinity sign? That's when it occurred to me that the character isn't being referred to box 181, it's a call to return the character to the same struggle, over and over again, for infinity - the infinity sign is in between two parallel lines on the box key.

Same DVD, same run, same message, and this snatch of time starts over again.

What I enjoy about the theme is that the cycle continues only as long as the character lets it continue.

There's some really interesting post-modern theology in this short: humanity's view of God, of time, of the "important" things in life.

It would have been better to have the instruction for the click on the roses on the first page so that the film did not have to be viewed twice. I thought that was a waste of time. Actually, one viewing was quite enough. I did not see the palindrome until I read the comments of others. In my opinion, that was the most clever part of the film. I felt it was a waste of time and I could have been out "smelling the roses." But, the product placement was interesting and I like the actor. I look forward to viewing the rest of the films in the series and hope they are more interesting. Also, I did not know about the ten line summary and had to rewrite and lose this several times. I am a person of few words.