Animation Short Film

The Lady and The Reaper Animation Short

This story was written and directed by Javier Recio Garcia. It is about and old lady that wants to die to be with her husband. A grim reaper attempts to grant her this wish, but his attempts are intervened by an Emergency Room doctor and several nurses, that keeps trying to save her life. She then commits suicide anyway after the hospital personnel save her life.

Technically, I liked the way the story began by first hearing the music, then the object, and then the record player, that was playing the music, and then finally the main character pointing to a photograph of her dead husband. This got my attention, and made me want to know more about what was to happen next, and it also made the experience more personable. I also loved the sound effects, such as the idling sound of the record player, the windmill whirling sound, and the music that played when the grim reaper first appeared and attempted to carry the old lady to the afterlife. I like the lighting effects when the doctors grab the old lady out of the hands of the grim reaper, the fade to white scene in the emergency room, and when she electrocuted herself, the lights in the operating room flickered and went black.

I liked the subliminal references the writer included in displaying the process of dying, from the point of view of being on an operating room table. We all would probably experience similar events, of seeing things like white light, people from our past, seeing our souls magically fly to heaven or hell, and other subconscious thoughts, while the doctors are trying to save our lives.

I didn't like the ending scene of the story, when after the doctors saved her life, she committed suicide anyway, by electrocuting herself in the operating room hand tub. I did like the religious reference in this ending scene. I say this to say, doesn't one of the ten commandments in the Bible say, "Thou shall not kill". I am sure this statement also included the killing of oneself, and if this sin is committed, that person will burn in hell. Maybe that's why the writer had the grim reaper attempt to come and take her away to see her husband, instead of one of God's angels.

Overall, the animated movie was nice, although I still have trouble with "feeling" the characters in cartoon animation, which is why I like rotoscoping animation movies even more.