Every so often there comes a piece of media that simply can not be over rated - last night while surfing through the media available on the XBox360 live marketplace I found just such a gem. For the record Sundance channel has an offering of short films available by download through xbox live, and The History of America is one of these offerings. Its a perfect fit with video game culture (adult swimmers unite!), and once word of mouth hits, I imagine this will find a degree of success with this young audience. The History of America is a complete farce, and I have to believe the main intention of this piece is humor. When beginning this short film its easy to have that "uh oh" feeling due to the seemingly crappy video quality and 4:3 aspect. This is purely intentional however. The production qualities take a jump by orders of magnitude as the animation (the bulk of this 30 minute piece) kicks in. Yea, its a tale of how America was born beginning in 1964 as a result of a war between cowboys and astronauts. Perhaps the content is absurd, but a story is told, and told well through use of animation and cleverly implanted live action footage. The animation is simply superb, and this quality alone gives a great deal of merit to the creators. When combined with the story, this piece takes off like some mental chemical reaction. Its impossible to take your eyes off of, begging for repeat showing for friends. Its like the Little Big Planet beta I just got done playing - I can't shut up about it - EVERYONE MUST KNOW!!! Beneath the absurdity is content, don't be fooled. Right off the bat is the title. Its not called A history of America, or history of America - Its called "THE" history of America - claiming to be the only true or correct history. At the end of the film there is a line to the effect of "may god bless America, but only us". I don't think its a stretch to see this piece making fun of America and Americans, and our self centered ideals. History beginning in 1964 is probably plausible to much of the current young generation that lives online and in worlds of fiction - this piece is for you! Perhaps the funniest bit of this film comes in its 5 minute montage wrap up concluding "what happened next" after the cowboy astronaut war (I was in tears). So, yea perhaps I like this piece of art too much. Its well made, funny, and has surprising depth (eye in the sky anyone?) - If my vague compliments even kinda raise an eyebrow, look into this brilliant display of imagination!!!
Review of The History of America
