Balance

This short won an Oscar for Animated Short and was most deserving of the honor. This has got to be the most disturbing and thought-provoking animated short I've ever seen in all of my life. I kept thinking about the ending for several days. It reminds me of a three part Chinese curse: 1) May you live in interesting times 2) May people in high places take notice of you and 3) May you get everything you wish for. A sad commentary on human nature. This is in print on The World's Greatest Animation and is worth getting, not just for Balance, but for practically everything on it, as it's all worth seeing and most is outstanding! Most highly recommended.

'Balance (1989)' is an enigmatic stop-motion short steeped in an eerie atmosphere. It tells the tale of several identical people who occupy a strange floating platform that easily shifts depending on where the weight is carries is distributed. To begin with, the men occupy their shared space in harmony, taking simultaneous steps to achieve their goal of fishing over the platform's edge. Soon, however, one of the men retrieves an odd box from the endless void, and the peaceful existence of the people is thrown into disarray. The piece is quite clearly an allegory of some sort, with the box potentially standing in for a number of things that our society (the people) will do anything to attain - even at the expense of one another's well-being. As a metaphor, it works really well. However, it can also be enjoyed on a surface level. The ways in which the men utilise their knowledge of weight distribution to get what they want is really entertaining. The plot is ultimately one of psychological and social manipulation. Its atmosphere is one of is strongest elements; the film really does give off a uniquely creepy vibe from the moment it begins. It's really interesting overall. Plus, it has a wonderfully bleak ending. It's great. 8/10.

It's been several years since I saw this, but it sticks in my mind like I saw it recently. This short does one of the best jobs I've ever seen of making a point in minimal screen time.

I won't go into the plot of the moral; part of the joy of this film is figuring it out. When I saw it, you could watch the audience members individually recognize what was happening over the time of the film. It's under 10 minutes long (I believe), and it would be a shame to spoil it for someone.

The film is not something children would enjoy. While there's nothing objectionable about the film, it's not typical colorful, pretty animation. One thing that struck me is that the animation style is very Eastern European, while the plot is rather Asian (group dynamics).

The bottom line is that this is well worth seeing -- and it won't even take that much time out of your schedule!

This short film was completely absorbing and finely worked out. It held my attention from the moment it began until the conundrum of an ending, which earned it a round of applause at the 19th Street Theatre in Allentown, PA, where I saw it. The film illustrates the need for humankind to cooperate and shows what happens when one doesn't do so, when he puts his selfish interest above the good of the group, even to sending others to their death. One's selfish pursuit cannot be justified, the film implies, even in the pursuit of art (after all, it was music in the box and the man wanted that music for himself or wanted to explore the interior of the box, i.e., the music, in greater depth). Film has many implications, would repay several viewings and stimulate much discussion.

Balance is a excellent short which revolves around a square board hanging in the air. This board represents the world. On this board are five men, all fishing over the side. There obviously represent the people of the world. These five men must cooperate with each other in order to keep the board balanced so that it doesn't tip. One man then reels up a musical box from the side of the board. This man wants to keep this box all to himself. However if he does this the board will become unbalanced and will effect others. But if this man were to put the musical box in the centre of the board and share it so that everybody could enjoy it together, then peace and calm would still exist on the board. This is obviously referring to people's possessions and resources, and how if one part of the world takes too much power over resources, then other parts of the world will be effected, yet if we shared all resources, all countries would be balanced and we would have no need for concern and worry. The short is simple and creepy, yet this emphasises even more about how the shorts message need to be taken into account and have something done about it, because it's message is simple and the ideas of what could happen if the world went into conflict over resources is an unsettling feeling. The end consequences of the short are amusing, but hint what could happen in reality. This short is very clever and well-made, and has messages and meaning. A short I could view many times and have very good conversation and debate over. A really interesting film to seek out.