2025 Oscar Nominated Short Films Live Action 4 ½ stars
This week I saw more of the Oscar Nominated Shorts; this time it was the live action shorts. As always, they are from all over the world and have a good message for us. Here are two of my favorites, both of which deal with the harrowing effects of racism.
A lien USA 4 stars
In A lien by directors Sam and David Cutler-Kreutz, we are told the story of a young couple, Sophia and Oscar who show up for their appointment at a US Immigration center. Sophia is a citizen and Oscar is undocumented, though he has lived in the US for most of his life. They have their five-year-old daughter in tow. Following protocol, the two are separated for their interviews with an immigration agent. Suddenly, there is some commotion, and Sophia sees that US ICE Agents have shown up and are starting to round people up. It seems that a raid is being conducted just at the moment the unfortunate couple have come in for their interview. For some added context we see a shot of a television in the room that is showing President Trump speaking during his first term. Sophia tries to text Oscar, who is in a different room trying to warn him but is unable to get a response. The tension rises as Oscar realizes something is wrong and tries to escape the building with his daughter. Throughout the process we can see the apathy exhibited by the immigration agents just doing their jobs. The fact that ICE is able to use the Immigration offices as a place to conduct their raids shows just how hypocritical the US immigration laws are. This fact is displayed on the screen at the end of the short. We see the uncertainty that people who have built their lives here have and the fear of being deported to a country they have little memory of.
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent Croatia/Bulgaria/France/Slovenia 5 stars
In what must be the most frightening of the five shorts presented, The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent starts with a group of passengers who have boarded a train, all speaking a Slavic language. In one train compartment are gathered a family including Dragan, a young man named Milan and two other older men. The train is stopped by a group of uniformed soldiers who are demanding to see everyone’s ID’s, so things get very tense for this group of passengers. Milan tells Dragan that he has no ID, so Dragan tells him not to worry as they will all stick together. We can surmise that Milan is Muslim and everyone else is Christian. Then one of the soldiers starts to question Dragan and we know things are going to get worse when he is asked to say who his patron saint is. When it is Milan’s turn, he must reveal that he has no ID and is told to come with the soldier. By now we can conclude that this is a paramilitary force without any actual connection to the government. During this line of questioning Dragan remains silent not offering any defense to poor Milan. Finally, one of the older men in the compartment speaks up telling the soldier to leave Milan alone. He reveals that his name is Tomo and that he is a retired army officer. He demands to speak to the soldier’s superior officer so that the situation can be resolved. At the end the camera pans around the compartment showing that everyone is still there except for Tomo. The setting of the film is the genocide that happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1993. The film shows us that in a situation involving ethnic cleansing it’s not only the victims that suffer but also those that want to help but can’t if it means putting their own lives in danger. Tomo, who lived and is memorialized in the end credits, is the title character and the hero who put his own life on the line by defying the evil that only seeks power for itself. The film makes a very powerful statement about how different people react to facing those abusing their power.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl 4 stars
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl by the British team of Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham continues the tale of these two close buddies in the second feature film of the series. There are many short films featuring these lovable characters though that are masterful in their use of stop motion animation. This time inventor Wallace has fallen on hard times as he can’t pay his bills, though he keeps on inventing gadgets that help him with his morning routine. He has come up with something new in the form of a robot that looks like a gnome called “Norbot”. Norbot is fully automatic and is programmed to do the chores around the house, something not very welcome to Gromit, Wallace’s canine friend, who sees Norbot’s work in the garden as an intrusion, not something helpful. The constant happy look on Norbot’s robot face is also disquieting. Soon Wallace starts a business renting out Norbot to neighbors doing their yardwork. There is another disturbing character in this story and that is the master criminal Feathers McGraw, the penguin who was sent away to prison long ago thanks to Wallace & Gromit. So, when McGraw finds out what Wallace has done with his gnome robot, he comes up with his own very inventive plan to get revenge on the pair. He is able to access Norbot’s programming via the internet and change its setting from Good to Evil. Norbot then sets about creating duplicates of himself to form an army of robot gnomes that are themselves programmed to create havoc in the neighborhood. The resulting crime wave gets the attention of the bumbling chief inspector Albert Mackintosh and his sidekick PC Mukherjee who trace the troublesome gnomes back to Wallace, just as the evil Feathers McGraw has intended. Of course, this leaves the solving of the crimes up to the faithful, but silent Gromit who must identify McGraw as the real criminal and find a way to stop him. Poor Wallace just can’t imagine that Norbot, his creation, could do anything wrong. There is plenty of action and comedy in this animated tale, that has more than a few references to the James Bond and Mission: Impossible movies that adults will enjoy. McGraw’s manner and master plans will remind you of the supervillains in these movies. Besides being fun and cute, the movie raises questions about the place of automation in our society and whether it is preferred to have that human touch of doing things ourselves. The movie is a short 79 minutes making it very easy to go through it in one sitting. Of course, there are certain things that will appeal more to British audiences, but it’s fun for everyone else too. Wallace & Gromit was nominated for the Best Animated Feature Academy Award, which is well deserved.