For a second or two, there is only sand and silence — a stillness broken by the steady thump of rotor blades and the zip of troops hurtling through dust-filled air toward the ground.

Thus begins director and animator Danny Madden's feverish nine-minute foray into the life of a young American service member soldier fighting overseas. Though premiered at last year's South By Southwest film festival SXSW last year, "Confusion Through Sand" is gaining new-found acclaim after PBS opted to show the animated film with the documentary, "The Kill Team" on Jan. 19uary.

While not a veteran, Madden said the subject of war always fascinated him. But as he grew older, the reality of combat began to sink in a bit, particularly as the U.S. weathered 13 years of war.

"Once I turned 18eighteen, I thought, 'Wow, there are kids my age being put into crazy, stressful and challenging situations … having to make life and death decisions,'" Madden said via email. "'What does that do to someone who has never made an adult decision before? How would I react to those circumstances?' And ultimately those were the questions that led to this film."

The result is a gritty portrayal of a military raid into what appears to be a quiet, rural area in town somewhere in the Middle East or Western Asia. Madden and his team at Ornana, their production company, intentionally kept identifying details scarce. For instance, whether the main character is a soldier, Marine or something else is left ambiguous.

It's an attempt to make the story easy to identify with while not distracting from the plot, said Madden and Ben Weissner, his producer and teammate.

"That's one of the real powers of animation," Weissner said. "We were allowed to keep identifying details obscured more. We hope that that allows more people to see themselves in the story."

As for the animation, Madden employed donated recycled paper — donated from Daler-Rowney and Art Supply Warehouse, and used its grainy quality to evoke gritty atmospherics. It's an approach they took to sound as well. Though given the opportunity to work with Skywalker Sound's state-of-the-art equipment, the team opted to use their own sound recorder.

"We wanted that grittiness, it helped the sound feel anxious — like it was too close, almost claustrophobic," Weissner said.

It's won praise from critics as well as from veterans and fellow artists. Max Uriarte, who pens the popular "Terminal Lance" cartoon strip, went so far as to say "Confusion Through Sand" surpassed this year's blockbuster "American Sniper" in capturing and conveying combat.

"To be honest, a hand-done piece like that says more in [nine] minutes to the brutal and hard reality of war than most movies ever even reach," Uriarte said in an email. "I thought the hand-done animation was superb; the straight ahead animation gave it a bizarre shakiness that adds to the confusion of the subject, immersing you in his own distorted reality."

Giving viewers, particularly those that have not served in the armed forces, a glimpse of modern war through the eyes of a young service member soldier was one of Madden's goals with the piece. It's too easy for civilians to ignore the realities of 13 years of war, he said.

"It'd be great if this film can help them consider more thoroughly the weight that comes with this kind of active service," Madden said. "And I hope, for those who have served or are serving, that they feel the complexities of their struggle have been communicated in some way."

Share:
In Other News
Load More