Ranked #2724

Birthday Boy

In 1951, there was the Korean War.

Birthday Boy is a short film about the events that happened in the last century, when North and South Korea became hostile after reunification attempts thus plunging both parts of the country into war. Later, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the north and the Republic of Korea in the south were formed. But this movie is not about that.

While the historical context of the film is deeply rooted in the events that took place in 1951, something else happens on the date of which the movie set: a young boy's birthday.

The anime opens with young Manuk playing in what is the remains of a plane. He tries looking for loose screws, bolts, and eventually finds a piece with which he is satisfied. When he crawls out of the plane's skeleton, we are given our first visual shock as we see what has become of this boy's village. And we understand completely where the storyline may be headed. The ghost town is occupied by no one except this little boy, who runs around almost carelessly, singing to create the sound of life that is so devoid in the rest of the town.

He turns his loneliness into a game he tries to make playthings out of scrap metal. Through his childish re-enactment of the violence that hit his hometown, we learn of what has happened to him and his family. The subconscious of this child reveals his current reality. The story covers perhaps a half a day of his life, and in the few minutes of the film's actual duration, his present life and his future is ultimately decided when he receives a package on his doorstep. Its contents we can understand, but he does not, and he ignorantly, innocently continues to play when we know it is only a matter of time before he learns what his "birthday present" really means to him.

Birthday Boy utilises CGI for the animation. The computer graphics are very well done though they are by no means the most excellent. The lighting and colouring of the movie are two strong aspects of the art. The animation is generally smooth, though there are moments when the movement of Manuk may be a little awkwardly animated. There is only one character given a proper face, and that is the little boy. The art style is more realistic, so there are details in his face and in his facial expressions. The film has a colour theme that it works with, portraying most everything with a tinge of beige. The brown sky, the dusty, town, the evening sunlight--it gives the movie a duller atmosphere which aids in setting the mood of the film.

The sound for this anime is extremely good. There is no intense or sweeping background music, no theme songs, but it relies on a different aspect of sound: an understated, sobering score. This is a generally quiet anime with gentle, sombre sounds and loud, wracking sound effects. It is artistic and deliberate; the juxtaposition of these underlying pulses of music and the reverberating sound effects influences both what is seen, what is heard and who is watching and listening. There is the sweet sound of the boy's singing that echoes through the near empty surroundings, the far away buzz of bomber planes in the sky, the overlapping sounds of real machine gun fire over Manuk's pretend gunshots that make it a lot more intense; there is the sight of child's play and the sound of man's fight. Scores for movies rarely contribute so significantly to the thematic development, but for Birthday Boy, it does so and does this outstandingly.

There is only one main character (and it could be argued, only one character) of this movie and it is Manuk. He is by no means an excellent character, and he exists to take us through the motions of the storyline. We learn so much about him however know nothing of him. He is generally adventurous, playful and seems not to understand completely the enormity of the situations around him. He has grown accustomed to the sights of planes and tanks and trains and destroyed homes. So he turns this world he now lives in into a playground for himself. We do not get to see what impact the package will have on him, but we can only speculate.

Birthday Boy is a truly atmospheric, sepulchral short film about the impact of the Korean War on a boy who is too young to understand greatly the consequences of it or the resounding effect it will have later on in his life. While it has no violence, no history lesson, no politics or adults, it shows us what life was like for those (especially the children) who had to continue living after something so important has occurred.

In 1951, a boy had his birthday. read more

During the 1950s, there was a fierce war being fought on the soil of Korea. Machine guns being fired, bombs going off, and tanks, well, doing what tanks do best: blowing stuff up. While reading that is enough to get any war maniac excited, Birthday Boy takes you on a journey through another side of war. A side that hardly ever comes to mind when you hear the word "war".

Birthday Boy starts off by showing us a young boy scavenging through a shot down fighter jet's cockpit. As he leaves the body of the war machine, we learn that the war has already left its mark on this young boy's town. There is the shocking sight of a fighter jet now cut in half and rusting away in what could be anyone's living room. From then on, we partake in a day of this young man's life. We see the many things he does for recreation. From making clever use of a speeding train to flatten a screw to pretending he is a soldier firing a machine gun. When he gets home, there is a package in wait for him that will change his life forever.

During Birthday Boy, we witness many symbolic things that portrays just how life was in Korea during the 1950s. There is the scene of a train transporting tanks and other war vehicles off towards the front line. Our young protagonist's reaction towards this shows just how common a scene it may have been back then. And just what was his reaction like? Was he terrified at the scene of these war machines? Nope, his reaction was filled with joy as he ran after the fleeing train.

Art:
Birthday Boy's art uses CGI, and the coloring of this film was one of its strong points. The artwork is not perfect and only gets a passing grade, but it was enough to portray what a day in war times was like.

Sound:
While the sound from Birthday Boy did not marvel me, I thought that it did a good job with its selection of music for the key moments in the film. Besides music, there were numerous background sounds that you will hear during the film that relates to war. For example, when Manuk, our young protagonist, is playing pretend soldier. There is the sound of real gunfire battle going on. There's also the sound of airplanes flying by.

The protagonist for this Birthday Boy is a young boy named Manuk. Being an eight minute short film, there is really no time for us to know much about him, however, Birthday Boy manages to show us a few things about him. While he may not know the full extent of what war is, he loves to pretend to be a soldier that is in the midst of a battle and is amazed at the war machines that he sees throughout his village such as the jets and the tanks. He also is quite the artist as he has dozens of handmade war figurines.

For a eight minute short film Birthday Boy truly shows the effects war had on young Manuk and his town. It left me with more questions than answers and had me wanting to know more of exactly what happened there. While Birthday Boy is not for everyone, I would recommend this for anyone who wants to see a nice short film about war.

From start to finish, Birthday Boy truly portrays just what life is like for a young boy in Korea during war times. read more