Les temps morts

A very strange film! Begins with a shot of a planet, followed by footage of Asian children playing in the streets with guns, and then footage of war. Then it switches to illustrations, black and white pen & ink drawings the camera moves over, people in various states of undress and dismemberment. Much of it is not animated, but some animation follows. Not entirely surreal, but somewhat. For example, a man rides a dead horse, the horse's front and hind legs being carried by two other men, following a man with a castle for hair. Back to actual footage, snorkelers fishing, riflery, bullfighting. More painterly style illustrations follow, men and women in the act of stabbing and shooting. More primitive animations, a woman in lingerie inhabiting a house made out of suitcases that each jail men's decapitated heads. Photographs of people being guillotined, hung, beheaded, electrocuted.

There's a French narrator, I wish I knew what he was saying!

In this short animated feature man is observed from afar, possibly from the point of view of aliens. It is not a pleasant portrait sadly. Humankind's warmongering and violent ways are what stand out to these observers.

This is another strange feature from René Laloux, the creator of Fantastic Planet. It has a very downbeat feel, the music is mournful and the narrator describes many awful aspects of about the human race. There is a mixture of media used – real footage, stills and animation. They are combined together to highlight the theme of death and violence. There are children playing at soldiers and war footage. An animated death procession over a surreal landscape, stills of bizarre macabre images, such as figure with holes blown out of them, bodies with limbs missing and lots of skulls. We see man abusing the other creatures he shares his planet with - killing fish, shooting birds and bullfighting; while the circle of death is completed when killers are murdered by the state in scenes of capital punishment. It's certainly another bizarre item from Laloux and should appeal to his admirers.

Created by the director-animator duo that gave us "Fantastic Planet" eight years later, "Dead Times" is a really depressing look at mankind's many shortcomings. Like "Fantastic Planet", he animation is surreal and stylistic and the message is fairly obvious and preachy, but it is still a powerful message nonetheless and it is told in an extraordinarily powerful way. There are images in this film that are not only stunningly crafted, but also absolutely haunting, not to mention brilliant, captivating, and uniquely beautiful in their own, off putting way.

There isn't MUCH actual animation, however, it is mostly a series of still drawings interspliced with archive footage of man's cruelty with a few sequences that actually feature the aforementioned drawings. The film is narrated by a cold, sometimes sarcastic man whose message is simple: man is a species dominated by violence and cruelty. A dark message, but one that will likely continue to ring true until the end of time (sorry for the lack of optimism, there is love in the world too, don't worry too much).