Harvie Krumpet

I first saw Harvie Krumpet in my high school science class. That class is amazing at being loud and obnoxious. People are regularly yelling across the room, throwing stuff, blaring music at full blast, and generally making the teacher's job very difficult. In fact, earlier in the class, two students had got into a verbal fight, yelling obscenities at each other for what seemed like ages. So when the teacher told us he was going to show a little animated film that I had heard of, one called Harvie Krumpet, I was a bit weary.

Harvie Krumpet it a claymation short running in at about 20 minutes, that details the life of an extremely unlucky man. The animation is crude yet not without its charm, the music is sparse but quite appropriate, and the story is flat out bizarre. In short, it was something I assumed my class would talk through. But I was wrong.

In the beginning, everybody was a bit weirded out by the style, and didn't really grasp it. They quickly adapted however and were soon laughing out loud at almost every joke the movie flung. People went 'awww' at the cute moments, said 'poor Harvie' at the bad, and as said before, laughed at the funny. But the moment I knew there was something special in this short was near the end. The was a moment of uncertainty where there was complete silence. Not a soul was speaking, or even breathing. For the first time ever in that class, everybody was quiet. You could literally feel different emotions coming from everyone. And when it was all over, as everybody was walking out of class, I didn't hear one person who didn't have something positive to say about Harvie Krumpet.

And I think that's what makes Harvie Krumpet so great; it can invoke feelings in everyone, from all walks of life. Despite being so different from the norm, everybody could appreciate the simple life that Harvie lead. Never before have I seen a movie with such an ability as that. And I'm unsure if I ever will again.

I rented the DVD out last week to watch the film that made Australia proud by winning that shiny gold Oscar.

This movie was short, it was only twenty minutes, but in that twenty minutes you become part of the little soul that is Harvie Krumpet, the animation was done by stop motion/claymation (which is tedious, trust me I study animation). The story is funny and sad at the same time and I promise you, once you watch it they'll be only 'one song' you'll be singing!

And you feel engaged in the film thanks to the great narration done by Geoffrey Rush, he has one of those powerful voices.

I rate this movie 10/10 and recommend it to everyone and anyone studying animation.

Thank you.

When I saw this short animation on the Monday night in question, I was surprised to see how such a sad story about a 'retarded migrant' could be so humorous. His story from a lumberjack's son to an animal- liberationist to an alzheimers patient is a well written and an entertaining one. I won't give away too much, but you will be pleased at just how entertaining this film is.

It definitely deserved the Oscar. I was quite surprised that it won, but then I saw the film and understood why.

If you every get a chance to watch it, take advantage of it.

I especially enjoyed the minor story about Harvie's doctor. Very clever.

Three words to describe Adam Elliot's (master of clay animation) 22 min and 7 sec film Harvie Krumpet: sardonic and poignant. This Academy Award winning short film follows the title character, a naïve but optimistic Polish who ends up in Australia, and his unlucky life. That is an understatement; he gets struck by lightning, has his testicle removed, is plagued by Tourette's Syndrome, just to name a few. But one single phrase (Carpe diem) causes him to embrace life despite his unfortunate circumstances (hooray for nudist colonies and chickens!). Crafted in both a humorous and distressing manner – you will laugh one moment then sink back into depression out of sympathy for Harvie – and superbly narrated by Geoffrey Rush, this film will make you smile and want to lead a better life. After all, if Harvie Krumpet can do it, you can too.

This little Australian claymation production was an unlikely winner for best animated short at the Oscar ceremony for 2003, beating a pixar production and other anime-bigwigs. Which is ironic, because Adam Elliot's twenty minute short is about an underdog. Elliot has appealed to a popular Australian myth, that of the Aussie battler, and the underdog (who we Australians inevitably root for), as a way to make an Australian audience sympathise with a migrant from poland, and recognise a similarity between themselves an him. What makes this short clever is that it uses the form of a children's story, a fairy tale, to communicate a moving story of hardships and not seem to bash the audience over the head with them. It has the appeal of the wonderful Aussie film The Castle, where great profundity can be found through a story told very simply, about simple people, whose outlook on life is so admirable. The story Harvie Crumpet tells, and the character of Harvey, are, of course, very different. Harvie suffers so much, and so many terrible things happen to him, that you have to wonder what is the redeeming thing about this story that makes it worth watching (leaving to the side its marvellous presentation in the guise of a children's fairy tale, or claymation television program perhaps, which creates, as mentioned, a juxtaposition with its content which is effective in lending it a genuine feel, making the audience want to be touched by Harvie). And, of course, the thing that makes Harvie remarkable is that he survives. He doubts himself, like all of us, and at times wants to give up the game, but at the end of the day, he seizes what precious moments he has.

Geoffery Rush as narrator rivals Anthony Hopkins for his fairy tale narration in The Grinch. Reveals what a wonderful, Australian storytelling voice he has. He should do more work in this vein, not to undermine his appearances onscreen, which are also marvellous (particularly Shakespeare in Love and Shine, but like Cate Blanchett, and unlike every other actor in the Hollywood past and present, he is just fantastic in every role).

In just twenty three minutes we are told, with the help of Rush, the life story of Harvie Krumpet - and at the end, even though he's only made of clay, we really feel like we know him. And he's a little fella that stays with you.