Duck Children

In a school play a group of children dressed as ducks move perfectly together except one of them. The play continues with the arrival of a duck girl bearing jam tarts and the alarming arrival of a man with a big paper-mache head bearing a shotgun.

This short was made for one months rent worth of money - £400! However it is well done despite some of the cost limitations showing through. The basic plot will automatically be associated with Columbine/Dunblane etc simply because of children and guns being involved. However Walker makes it clear this was not his intention. That's a shame because it leaves us with a story that isn't so clear.

Walker insists the film is a metaphor for following the rules, living within your limits and then dying. This is shown by the one duck who is out of step, not having crosses on his eyes. This allows him to do his own thing (as he isn't blinded), but then why is his fate the same as the others - in fact he seems more unhappy because he is left out.

That said it is a good short, even if the meaning is a little muddled if you live outside of the maker's head. The music is great and well used - to create an air of innocence that easily turns into building unease and menace. The ducks are great and the big-headed man is simple but very effective. The weak link was the duck girl who's presence I didn't understand.

Overall this is done cheaply and deserves praise for being watchable. The end is quite dark and disturbing and the meaning is not totally clear unless you watch an interview with the director first (as I did) and even then it's iffy. However the mood is well judged and effectively moves from comical ducks to discomfort and sheer horror. The director said he wanted to shake people awake - he succeeded.

I had never heard of this British short movie until now, just watched it on YouTube. Some young school kids are dressed up as ducks, dancing on a stage, then comes along a man with a huge, deformed paper-mache head and starts blasting them with his rifle. It's just utterly bizarre but also quite brilliant. The idea of killing kids is obviously not a nice thing but it's done in such a way here to make it arty and surreal as opposed to sickening, mindless violence.