Sztuka spadania

Set atop a rickety watch-tower with a platform more akin to a diving board, a troop of soldiers routinely keep watch, and just as routinely seem to plummet onto the concrete below - all handily timed for the awaiting photographer below to capture their new-found splatted-ness with his camera. The photographs are rushed indoors where they form the most unlikely source of ... art! Indeed, the larger than life "artist" seems to be able to reinvigorate the corpse's image on screen to mirror his own movements - just like dance! Such athleticism takes it's toll, though, and soon he must rest. Who is this mysterious and sinister puppeteer - or is he, too, just a puppet? They must have a never-ending supply of sentries too! Great stop motion animation with a wee bit of slap-stick and a good dose of the macabre!

More than 20 years after the release of this computer-animated short film, I don't think much has changed in how the mighty and powerful send soldiers to their deaths for nonsensical and selfish reasons. In this case, the leader-who, dare I say, reminds me of one of today's more controversial figures-orders his obedient soldiers to their deaths for the sake of his macabre artistic creations.

All the characters are depicted in a caricatured style. The soldiers are thin and small, resembling Mort Walker's comic strip character Beetle Bailey, while the higher-ups are large and heavyset, more like Sarge from Walker's comics. At the same time, the film includes clear nods to real-life figures from the darker side of military history. I suppose it's all about emphasizing the archetypal divide between those in power and those who blindly serve them.

For an early 2000s animated film, the computer animation quality is quite impressive, and its dark comedy will at least make you smile a bit. But the film's most important aspect is undoubtedly its powerful anti-war message-one that should make us stop and reflect on why we continue to carry out these senseless actions, all to serve the selfish interests of a powerful few, even when it ultimately costs us everything.

Or, more exactly, propaganda of war. dark, macabre - the music from Balkans as clue - , well crafted and proposing the expected provocative story of Tomek Baginski. ironic parable about war, armies, soldiers and dark sides of "innocent" delights.

In a long deserted military base a high rickety tower stands high above the ground. At the top is an officer awarding medals to damaged soldiers who survived the war before pushing them to their death on the ground far below. At this point their corpses are photographed by another sinister man and the resulting image sent to his employer far from the site.

This is the whole plot of the short, apart from the detail of the ending which I'll not spoil beyond saying that it is oddly comic and darkly weird. In terms of straight animation the ideas and the creation of them are good as the short looks good but also seems to mix styles and produce animation techniques within other animation techniques. It also is delivered with a real sinister air that works well with the more comic (but still sinister) conclusion. So on this level I liked it as a film, but on the downside I did feel like it left me hanging a little bit.

It plays like a comment on the disposable nature of life to some within the military (this is a Polish film) whereas from a slightly different angle it appears to be commenting on the treatment of soldiers who no longer serve a use on the battlefield. And I could go on – there are a couple of different readings of this film but it doesn't really help the viewer to appreciate them. If there is a serious point here then the comic ending rather detracts from the seriousness of it; conversely if there is only a rather macabre creative theme to the short, the specifics of the start seem very, well, "specific" for there not to be a pointed commentary aspect to it.

Fallen Art still works as a short animation though and it is well created with a dark and sinister air to the comic of the grotesque. I just wish that it had been clearer to the viewer in regards what it was trying to be/do.

It is interesting how everybody was astonished by the visualization in Katedra and in this one. And nobody dig into the story behind. But Beginsky's stories are more than just an add on to the graphics.

This masterpiece tells us how some individuals can decide about life and death, and what the army really is. Soldiers are just a tool to achieve the goal of the art called WAR.

While the Katedra is more the critique to the church. The man is alone and when the church shows him the 'light' he's captured forever.

In my opinion Beginski tries to describe the problems in a more subtle way with great visualization and 3D graphics.