The Tragedy of Man // Animation Club

Dir. Marcell Jankovics / 2011 / 160m / Hungarian w/ Eng. Subtitles

An incredible 23 years in the making, THE TRAGEDY OF MAN is the legendary Hungarian animator Marcell Jankovics’s (SON OF THE WHITE MARE) sprawling, kaleidoscopic masterwork: a seemingly-endless animated scroll of gorgon-like demons, cave paintings that spring to life, barbarian warriors, bejeweled pharaohs, knights and martyrs and prophets bleeding together -- one brutal age dissolving into another and another, all of human history passing like pages in a flipbook.

Adapted from the dramatic poem by 19th century author Imre Madách that’s often compared to Goethe’s Faust and Milton’s Paradise Lost, THE TRAGEDY OF MAN is no children’s cartoon: it’s one of the most visually stunning and wildly ambitious animated epics ever made (and then some). Out of the galactic void at the beginning of the story emerges Lucifer the Devil, the Great Winged Bat, Anubis, the antagonist who adopts many faces and forms as it guides and manipulates the characters of Adam and Eve throughout history, searching for the purpose of human existence -- if there is one. Broken into 15 different episodes (the segments were produced one at a time by Jankovics as he cobbled together funding), each section has a different visual style, incorporating a mindblowing tapestry of world art, cultures, symbols, and rituals.

ANIMATION CLUB is an ongoing series that celebrates new and classic animated films from around the world! From studio titans to hidden indie gems; traditional 2D to stop-motion, 3D animation, experimental, and everything in-between!

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