Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Space warfare is the stuff of science-fiction fantasy for now, but this far-off dystopian reality is artfully imagined in ‘Ambush‘, a short animated film by Xi Chengzhuo.
The four-minute film follows a scout in space, waiting for enemies that never come, but death draws closer with his depleting supply of oxygen. In its short runtime, the story succinctly captures the tragically theatrical absurdity of war, no matter where it’s fought: on land, air, water, or in space. The protagonist waits for enemies we never see and faces a much higher chance of dying from lack of supplies than from an ambush by the other side.
‘Ambush‘ made me think of Robert Graves’ World War I memoir Goodbye to All That (because I recently read it), where he vividly recalls how several soldiers don’t die by enemy bullets or bombs, but due to other unfortunate, and sometimes bizarre, circumstances. For instance, a senior soldier dies while demonstrating how not to use a grenade to his juniors, only to shockingly die when the bomb explodes accidentally in his hand.
The animation design in ‘Ambush‘ is simple, fluid, almost dreamy; belying the terrifying circumstances the protagonist finds himself in. For a moment, you can’t tell if he’s having a nightmare and hallucinating, although the situational ambiguity only makes his ordeal even more grim.
“Are we going to die for nothing?” he desperately asks his sergeant, a question soldiers have been asking for eons. A somber twist at the end gives ‘Ambush‘ a wistful close, leaving viewers with several questions. But depending on how you read the film, you might either feel satisfied or wish it had been longer. Regardless, this is an excellent little student film!
You can watch ‘Ambush’ on YouTube, it’s also embedded below.