After watching the thoughtful classic “The Dream Of A Ridiculous Man” directed by the immensely gifted creator Aleksandr Petrov, I went on to see his other worth experiencing projects which mainly included this beautiful short animated film called, “The Old Man And The Sea”. Based on renowned writer Ernest Hemingway's 1952 short story of the same name, the film deservingly won many awards including an OSCAR for the Best Short Animated Film in the year 2000 and is a must watch indeed for both the young and the old together.
Interestingly a full length movie was also made on this story in 1958 with the same title directed by John Sturges featuring the veteran Spencer Tracy in the lead. No doubt it was a fine attempt by the team too but the magic which Aleksandr brings on to the screen through his amazing art of “Paint-On-Glass Animation” in his just 20 colourful minutes is nothing short of a charming achievement made in the world of cinema. Comprising thousands of hand-made oil paintings on glass sheets (without using any computer graphics), the end result is a jaw dropping experience for the viewer simply transforming him into a different world of colours and art like never before.
In comparative terms if you really loved watching the catchy themes, blue sea and the amazing variations of sky in the recent “Life of Pi” then you got to see this unbelievable kind of art-form as a must, which rises much above that as it is not at all dependent upon any CGI effects.
Having said that “The Old Man And The Sea” is just not an artistic venture to be applauded. The film also has many enlightening views to share on the sorry state of mankind today which straight away hits the right note impressively. Revolving around an old man named Santiago, who is struggling with his old age and the reputation he had in his youth, the director gives us many thoughtful lonely moments of his, when he is all alone in the sea looking for a big catch talking with himself. For instance it is simply great to see him thinking about the sea creatures, moon and sun with words like,
“Man is not much beside the great birds and the beasts. But they are not as intelligent as we who kill them. They are more noble and able.”
“The fish is my brother, but I must kill him. I am glad we do not have to kill the stars.
Imagine if each day a man must try to kill the moon. The moon runs away. And imagine if a man each day tries to kill the sun.
We are born lucky. It is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers.”
With such an insightful vision and amazing never before kind of artwork, “The Old Man and the Sea” is truly a meaningful cinematic wonder to be seen at the earliest by everyone of any age, especially for the young ones. And please don’t miss it if you really love both the mediums of art and cinema together.
Director: Aleksandr Petrov
Writers : Ernest Hemingway (Novel)
(On the date of posting this article, the film could be seen at Youtube in two parts at the following links)
http://youtu.be/W5ih1IRIRxI
(To know more about the film please refer its IMDB page at the following link)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0207639/
Tags :
The Old Man And The Sea (1999) (Russia), Movies To See Before You Die World Cinema, Short Film Animation Adventure, Must See Movies List by Bobby Sing, Not To Be Missed Films, Not To Be Missed Animations, Aleksandr Petrov, The Old Man And The Sea.
