This short film is the true story of a Canadian air force hero Andrew Mynarski, who stayed in a crashing plane to try to save a trapped gunner. When he did eventually bail out, his parachute was burning and he fell to his death. This short film captures those few moments of the end, but does so in a hyper stylized manner which is designed to act as tribute but expand into something more beautiful than this specific death.
Technically the film is interesting. The first thing that struck me was just how much it seemed to reference the work of Guy Maddin (a Winnipeg native himself); it did so to the point that it started to bother me because it was very much of his style but yet not as good – and it stuck with me. The animation makes the film more interesting than the Maddin-esque content, and it makes for a layer of fantasy and wonder with its color and flair. The problem is that this seemed out of step with the story itself, and it left me cold, which cannot be the goal with such a tale.
In the end it was a film I appreciated for its reference, its uniqueness, and its technical craft. However beyond that it didn't do anything for me on a level that made it stick with me or leave a mark.
