Protest

I viewed this 3 min short as part of the 11 films selected for the 2000 Resfest disc. It's one of two standouts in the series, the second being Cath Le Couteur's "Starched."

What Katz offers here is a compelling moment of drama and pictorial beauty.

The animation is flawless, and the cinematic value--the depth and angular

beauty of downtown NYC--is really a wonder.

Don't miss a chance to see it, and, if possible, with Katz's commentary.

As the threat posed by man on the elephant in the wild continues, elephants in New York stage a protest by leaping from the tall buildings for all to see.

The point behind the film may be a simple one to highlight the loss of elephants in the wild and this task is performed well by the text at the start and end of the film. However this is not a message film but rather an animation of such perfect beauty that I had to watch it several times to soak it up. The foundation for this is the music and Katz has made the perfect selection in this piece of opera because it creates an air of haunting beauty that he then constructs the visuals around. The falling elephants are well delivered in a restrained way and their slow movement is really well contrasted against the angular beauty of the cityscape around them. The decision to cut to newspaper rather than showing the impact was the correct one I think because it maintains the beauty of the piece as opposed to the more aggressive message that would have come with the impact.

Overall then a simple film that is far better than the basic "save the animals" message that some viewers may dismiss it for having. It is a beautiful piece of animation borne of imagination and delivered with real skill and awareness of the total product.