The God

This stop-motion short film is over 20 years old at the time I'm reviewing it, and my thoughts are mixed. On one hand, the story is genuinely funny: even a statue of a deity is disturbed by a fly and struggles to get rid of it, despite having godly advantages that we humans don't. As it happens to be a hot summer day with flies everywhere while I'm writing this, I can easily relate to the kind of frustration that might have inspired this film.

On the other hand, using a real god from an existing religion for a comedic film isn't the best choice, as it can be offensive to practitioners of that faith. I understand why the filmmakers chose this particular deity - it fits the story perfectly - but a lot has changed over the past 20 years. What may have been more or less acceptable back then feels much more sensitive in the mid-2020s.

That said, I have to point out that the ending was excellent, thanks to an unexpected last-second plot twist.

Why would they even pull up a hindu God revered by millions of people in the world and obviously the creator has no idea about to make this offensive content? I wonder if they did the same content with Jesus, would this still receive all these awards from west?

This is an amazingly pretty piece of computer generated animation. What surprised me about this is that it was directed by Konstantin Bronzit--a Russian animator who has long used traditional hand-drawn cartoons. It's a pretty radical departure making a CGI film and I was very impressed that the quality was amazingly good.

Before I begin, I should point out that there are probably a lot of Hindus out there that would be offended by this cartoon. After all, the god Shiva (one of the holiest and most revered of the the gods in Hinduism) is the subject of this humorous cartoon! Keep this in mind before you decide to watch it.

The film shows Shiva in a very traditional representation--in bronze and standing within a circle of bronze flames. Suddenly, a fly lands on Shiva's arm--one of many arms to be exact. Slowly, the bronze statue comes alive and swats the fly--missing again and again and eventually smashing the bronze circle. It's all pretty dry but very funny. I liked it and was impressed by the effort. Too bad they had to pick on Shiva--especially since according to Hindu lore, this is NOT a god to offend!

This is a nonsense film. An Indian god is bothered by a fly. He is weary of the fly and tries to crush it. The first thing I want to say is it is better not to use the gods as material for amusement films. It may turn out that some religious people who watch this film dislike it. If those who made this film aren't Hindu, they should respect the beliefs of others, so to use the gods as the material for the films is inadvisable. If a Hindu watches this film, he or she may get very angry. I think that the idea of using a motionless thing such as a statue or a doll is not so bad, so I can't understand the necessity to use the god. Surely the scene that his many arms do him a disservice is in this film, but it doesn't matter that it is not the god but the doll of the spider. Perhaps the producer thinks that it is funny that a god has trouble with the existence of a fly. However the producer should know that he or she loses something in exchange for their fun.

only a question of perspective separates the amusement by the offense in this case. and not only for a Hindu viewer. because it is easy to see the god of destruction in the middle and deep angry, using entire body against a fly. and the final spider could be inspired metaphor for the fall of religion. or for the replacement of an old god. but, in same measure, for Bronzit is a game with fire. not only for the status of delicate subject for each irony exercise against religious believes but for the limits between a nice animation and a sacred taboo. the film reminds , in soft manner, the style of Charlie Hebdo. or the reincarnation of terrible Shiva. but the subject remains bizarre. and this is the only significant fact for me.