Rocks

I have had the privilege of seeing all the nominees for Best Animated Short for the Oscars in 2003. What got me interested in seeing all of them is a review for THE CATHEDRAL (also a nominee) in which the reviewer complained that this film, not CHUBBCHUBB! deserved the Oscar. Well, after seeing them all, I really think CHUBBCHUBB! should have probably won, though DAS RAD is very, very close--so close that I really think the makers should be commended--especially since CHUBBCHUBB! was made by a huge corporation (the same people that made the CGI feature SURF'S UP) and DAS RAD was a much smaller scale production. Also, DAS RAD has one of the most original concepts I've ever seen. While CHUBBCHUBB! is funnier and probable more fun for the average viewer, DAS RAD makes you think and the idea of the world as seen through the eyes of large rocks is amazingly different. And what also was exceptional was the idea that rocks are such slow and permanent creatures that the world around them appears to go at lightning fast speed! Clever and wonderful--see this short.

I really, really felt for these rocks. Seriously. They were imbued with so much personality, and I didn't want anything to happen to them. In addition, there was a skillful back-and-forth device that shifted the POV from the short-term human perspective to the rocks' long-term, uh, rocky perspective. Very cool, very skillfully done. If you told me a German film about rocks would be so charming and touching and funny, I'd have told you to take a hike, but it's true: this little film about rocks is a jewel.

It is a film for discover the reality near yourself in the fair perspective. It is an amusing , touching, ironic and delicate short animation about history, changes, people and nature. And it gives more than a lovely story but a wise manner to discover the essence of the things around every new day. Two characters. A talk . The status of witnesses of a large circle. Small observations and large slices of silence. And the fear of the viewer about the victory of progress against the rocks. The end is a wise one especially as answer to this fear. So, admirable animation.

While I won't go so far as to say this "deserved" the Academy Award for Short Animation more than any other nominee (it was a very good field and the winner, The Chubbchubbs, was also extremely good), I do consider this an extraordinary short and would have had no problems with it winning. In this, it becomes quite clear that time is truly relative and that longevity is all a matter of perspective. At times funny and unsettling (often in the same instant), you'll think about this for a while and really should watch it more than once. You'll never quite see rocks in the same way again. In a just and fair world, this would be readily available. Hopefully, it will be sometime soon. This has aired on the Sundance Channel as part of Shorts Program 114 and was also part of the initial program for The Animation Show still currently in release in some areas. By all means, see it if you can. Well worth the effort. Most highly recommended.

It's a simple message, but it is delivered in a wonderful way. Rocks are the main characters. As centuries pass and civilizations come and are eventually gone, the rocks endure. We, as humans, simply are a blur in time lapse. I loved the business with lichens and moss on the rocks, the price of not moving for centuries. Excellent short animation feature.