This short film threw me through a loop with its minimalist and surrealist animation. The Guardian, directed by Alessandro Novelli, is a really well executed short, and it’s well worth watching several times.
The Guardian is a free interpretation of the parable “Before the Law” from Kafka’s book “The Trial”. A peasant after traveling the world arrives in front of a gate, controlled by a fearsome Guardian. The peasant tries to pass through but the Guardian denies him entrance. Peasant and Guardian are the same character, the peasant, like each one of us, in front of his own fear; the guardian, something shapeless, that surround and control him.
There’s also a short ‘making of’ video that’s pretty neat: