Man

I can already imagine, in my mind, the average self-important middle school teacher who has to discuss environmental issues in class and, instead of preparing a lesson, decides to show the class this short movie and invites the students to debate on how profound it supposedly is.

I wouldn't mind too much an obvious message and a relatively superficial degree of understanding of the world, if at least the plot devices used to convey it were vaguely original. Instead, we get a plot essentially recycled from the beginning of Douglas Adams's "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (even though I wouldn't be surprised if it had been done earlier).

Stylistically well-done, though.

Another brilliant piece of work from Steve Cutts, this animated short film tells the history of humankind through the lens of consumerism. In his quest to become king of the hill, man destroys nature, wipes out biodiversity, and pollutes the land and oceans-only to end up ruling over a planet that's become one giant junkyard.

The animation style is simple, but the storytelling is so clever that you can't help but keep watching, wondering what's next. It's a dark comedy, but also a sharply humorous one. The ending delivers a smart twist-and serves as a final wake-up call to rethink the direction we're heading as a consumerism-driven society. The classical music is the perfect finishing touch.

500,000 years ago, man is born. He keeps killing animals around, modifying environment according to his wish, destroys things, is now sitting on a pile of trash, an alien visits the earth to see, dissapointed with what he saw, leaves and turns man into trash.

There is not anything which I found to be very innovative. Not sure if alien plot plays any meaningful role. The animation is not great either. The message is good but not a rememerable short film.

Steve Cutts narrates greediness, and indifference to natural limits, in a fascinating journey through time (from right to left).

I guess "Man" is the reason for every bad thing that has ever happened. 500,000 years ago, a man appears wearing a "Welcome" tee-shirt. He proceeds to take on everything he meets, destroying, killing, wasting, and on and on. Steve Cutts seems to be bent on constant blaming for a paradise he seems to have in mind. There is no new territory from several of his other targets. It is interesting, however, in its overstatement.