FEBRUARY 22, 2008 - VOL. 1, ISSUE 3

In a year when an American film like Ratatouille nailed everything that it meant to be French, Même Les Pigeons Vont Au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go To Heaven), seems to nail everything that’s important to a lot of Americans. If the French are known for eating instead of kneeling, Americans are more concerned with getting into the almighty heaven.

In a breezy nine minutes, an old man tries to reach for some money while a priest leers in like a news reporter anxiously sitting by the police blotter. This priest is hijacking a signal, that of the grim reaper. This old man is about to die, and the priest will do everything in his power to save him, even bringing a machine which allegedly will bring him to heaven. The whole thing is a fraud. He uses bells and whistles to continue this sham. Conveniently, this submarine will cost the man his life savings. Then, just as the old man is ready to sign that life away, the grim reaper saves the day. Because the blotter said the man who was counting his money was the one who died, the Reaper kills the priest while promising to visit the old man soon. The payoff comes immediately as the old man traps himself in the submarine once again.

It’s not sophisticated and the animation isn’t all that different from something you might see from Pixar, but I think the abruptness and humor derived from picking on religion are why I enjoyed this film so much. Short films don’t have the time to really tell a complicated story, but particularly for animated shorts, this can be made up for my wonderful looking visuals. The word coming to mind is cute, although blood smattering from the priest onto the old man gives this film an edge.

What may strike American viewers is religion being treated so harshly within the context a cartoon. The old man represents the pigeon mentioned in the title because he is very gullible and easily cheated, like the rat with wings. The audience sees what the old man sees in that damn submarine, a beautiful vision of clouds, stairs, a huge gate, and a fortress. Even though it’s a giant lie, the old man wants to believe so bad, he sees the visions of heaven he may have dreamt as a child.

I don’t really want to pontificate whether this film should, or will, win the gold statue. However, I believe that this film is universal and funny enough to appeal to a lot of audiences. Like Pixar, I think the filmmakers have an understanding that a movie can look spectacular, but it’s the characters that count in the end.