SYNOPSICS
Prologue (2015) is a None movie. Richard Williams has directed this movie. are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2015. Prologue (2015) is considered one of the best Animation,Short movie in India and around the world.
During the Peloponnesian War some 2,400 years ago, a wide and fragrant field in spring becomes the fierce and fateful battleground for two opposing armies: the Athenians of the Delian League, and the Spartans of the Peloponnesian League. Man against man and sword against spear, the soldiers are determined to sacrifice themselves for a greater purpose--the blood-soaked soil under their feet is the ultimate proof. But from afar, a young witness stains her precious innocence with the horrors of men. Is war the answer?
Same Director
Prologue (2015) Reviews
The horror of war is in store
Richard Williams' Prologue is a decidedly emptier short film in terms of plot, as its eight minutes showcase very elaborate and detailed sketches of warfare that are uncommonly violent and brutal, especially by the standards of animation. The battle takes place between Spartan and Athenian warriors, who find new and riveting ways to pierce the exposed fleshes of their enemies all while trying to win the war despite losing everything. You can tell how little the short is about given my dramatic plot reiteration. As a whole, while there isn't much going on with Prologue, it's a strangely immersive short film. Its largely blank canvas, only decorated with simple pencil strokes of gray, black, and red that realize the ugliness of battle, strangely helps one get sucked into the world before being spit back out when the credits roll. On top of that, the violence here is immaculately conceptualized and the overall effect is strangely satisfying, almost servicing one's questionably human, carnal desires to see violence by way of such an innocent medium. If nothing else, use it as a cautionary tale for the horror of war.
Striking Richard Williams toon.
Impressive non verbal cartoon of high seriousness. No Pink Panthers here. It's also a long trip from Williams' The LITTLE ISLAND or the disaster of The PRINCESS & THE COBBLER. Spending years doing one frame one drawing on paper, before state of the art modification, to achieve a striking, exceptionally fluid style, this one is a break from what we've seen from Williams. The labor of love short film uses the Spartan-Athenian conflict for it's imagery. We see aggression and its consequences in a sometimes startling manifestation.
I would not have nominated it
"Prologue" is a British 6-minute animated short film from last year that managed to get nominated at both the BAFTAs and Oscars this year without winning either. I must say the nomination was already a bit much. I guess they just wanted to pay tribute to Richard Williams this way, a man who has worked in the industry for many decades and already won 2 Oscars (2.5 actually) in the past. However, his film did nothing for me. I don't mind violence if it feels that it helps in telling a convincing story, but this was a fairly boring watch I must say. The animation style was so-so and looked a lot older than 21st century. I am a bit glad this film did not win and even if I was not rooting for "Bear Story", then this one was still a more deserving winner than "Prologue". I do not recommend the latter. Thumbs down.
Battle to the Death
Prologue (2015) *** (out of 4) Richard Williams bizarre animated short managed to pick up an Oscar nomination and it's somewhat hard to believe considering how violent and gory the picture is. The film takes place over two thousand years ago as Spartan and Athenian fighters do battle to the death. It seems that reviews are rather mixed on this one and it's easy to see why. The film contains some full frontal nudity, graphic violence and some gore, which will certainly have your eyes wide open but at the same time I guess this might be too much for some even in an animated form. For the most part I thought the six minutes went by fast and I'd argue that the animation itself was quite good. There's really no story to speak of but just violent battle sequences with blood flowing.
Completely false portrayal of classical age Greek fighting.
This laughably inaccurate short was to be the introduction to a cartoon adaption of Lysistrata. The press material says: "Man against man and sword against spear, the soldiers are determined to sacrifice themselves for a greater purpose" "man against man"? Classical age conflict between Greek city states was NOT melee pairing it was phalanx warfare. That is almost ritualized and surprising low violence, with an estimated 5% casualty rate per battle. Violence was almost entirely confined to combatants and phalanx fighting was essentially set piece pushing matches. There was virtually no "man against man" fighting at all. That the cartoons was utterly inaccurate in detail as well is also important since the the details go to bigger issues. The greaves ALL hoplites wore and the type of shield (the word hoplite means shield warrior), and the standard length spear ALL had were for fighting in FORMATION. And the formation (the phalanx) reflected the citizen warrior fighting in a unified group -- as part of their responsibility to their city state and their fellow citizen warriors. Breaking off for melee pairings as in "Prologue" as it itself an act against one's fellow citizens since it compromised the phalanx. Each citizen had to privately own the infantry arms and amour. This was an important part of egalitarian underpinnings of most city states. The reason the Eight to Fifth century BC city states did not subjugate huge amounts of foreigners is because their fighting method, citizen, non professional solders who had their own equipment. Assyrians, Persians, later Macedonian Greeks, and empire period Romans all had armies were paid or impressed soldiers, who did not own their weapons and who were permanent professional soldiers. those other forces did NOT have to get back to the fields or regular jobs" like Lysistrata era Greeks had to. The cartoonist completely misses the point: If warfare today was like classical age Greek warfare, with its lack of full time professional soldiers, with its lack of central armories, but instead owned arms, with its "winning" by having 5% or so of combatants die on the field, and victory declared, instead of "total war" with its lack of razing cities in most cases -- we would be a LOT better off. The author/cartoonist, and anyone interested, ought to read the preeminent scholar on Lysistrata era Hoplite warfare: Victor Davis Hanson's "Hoplites: The Classical Greek Battle Experience" so they do not get confused.