Neill Blomkamp's Oat Studios released a handful of short films recently, billing them as creative playgrounds of sorts. This film is probably the most creative of the bunch (the others, although good, are built on very generic bases), whereas this one has a clever idea and also an interesting commentary on the nature of God. With that in mind though, it is unfortunate that it doesn't work as well as it should and ends up feeling like a missed opportunity.
God and his butler sit in the library while on the table in front of them, a scene plays out on a miniature of the Serengeti, with Neolithic man. Mostly disinterested in what these funny little men are doing while he reads, God allows himself to intervene to prevent their advancement, grant them kindness, but also unleash cruelty on his subjects. It is a nicely odd, comical, but yet serious film, and one that is interesting for the way it presents God. The one thing that is clear is that he sees humanity as amusing at best, but otherwise he is totally apathetic towards us – just in the same way as we'll go on a rampage in Grand Theft Auto etc, they are not real people to our view.
The downside of the film is that this simple point is delivered quickly and without much finesse. It makes it punchy perhaps, but I did wonder why it was so short when the other films were much longer; there was certainly scope to expand on this to make the same point but in a more gradual and impacting manner. Still interesting and polished enough to be worth your time, but it does feel like it could have been more.
