Cadaver (Jonah Ansell 2012) : USA

Review by Bethany Burns. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Arlington Theater.

Poetic and beautifully abstract this animated short film offers a perspective on death which embraces optimism even after all seems lost. This 2D animated film was written and directed by Jonah D Ansell.

As cold as I found him so I will leave him.

My heart goes out to his if only I could replace it with my own so that he may have a last chance to say goodbye to those he loves.

To cut out ones heart seems to me as though I am stealing what never belonged to me.

I will leave it to her. My partner in this crime.

But wait! What’s this!? He lives without his heart! With only the desire to see his love one last time.

I will take him, we will make this journey together. He must love her if he can live to see her with his heart cut out of his chest.

I will wait, for he will see what he never saw in life he can only know now in death.

She loves another. Friends in life, lovers in the sorrow amidst death.

How can his heart be broken when it has left his chest once against his own will.

Returning now to this cold dark room.

To relinquish his heart to the depths of this empty glass jar.

“Before you go” whispers a soft gentle voice.

He turns to her and smiles. She is so  beautiful in her white robe and pale wrinkled skin.

Together they lie. Cold  hearts intertwined.

Even in death, love is still alive.