Still from "Danny Boy"
A commentary on a particularly absorbing subjects of today's society - the alienation of people and their place in reality inspired by the popular Irish folk song Danny Boy.. Full of irony and sympathy, portraying a society where almost everyone has literally lost their head.
The ten-minute satire, an award-winning Polish Swiss 2010 coproduction directed by Marek Skrobecki is competing for the Cartoon d'Or awarded by Brussels international non-profit association Cartoon. 'Headlessness', a direct reference to the totalitarian ideologies of the 20th century, represents society's mindless ignorance and lemming-like behavior of unquestioned faith and undeterred obedience. United by an uncanny collective ignorance, it breeds intolerance towards anything which doesn't fall within accepted norms and citizens reject anyone questioning their reality based community.
Eerie scenes of headless characters rush to and fro in disarray, wander the streets and constantly trip and fall over. In the anonymous urban mass one man stands out, Danny Boy, who, being a misfit (as he has his head), feels strongly alienated from the headless society. He drifts through the streets observing, with great sadness and despair, the confused mass of citizens rushing aimlessly through their daily routines. In the safety of his home, he works on a machine which will help him through his loneliness.
One day he meets someone who is ready to accept his dissimilarity. In the face of true feelings, the alienation and lack of acceptance of his character become even more unbearable. The burden of his dignified divergence becomes a heavy one indeed, when even the love of his life rejects him. His desperate act of decapitation paradoxically becomes his way of emancipation from the rational, logical way of thinking. Danny Boy, freed from the necessity of thought and responsibility, is embraced by his love, and heads towards the setting sun.
Sources: culture.pl, PISF Editor: Marta Jazowska