The Man Who Waited

Winner of a 2006 “Best Canadian Animation” award at the Ottawa International Animation Festival, Theodore Ushev's The Man Who Waited—based on a short story by Franz Kafka—is a beautifully made downer, filmed in a stark style that suggests a series of dark woodcut tableaux. Somberly narrated by Tony Robinson and backed by a moody score from Arvo Pärt, this tautological parable about self-knowledge and individual truth opens and closes with the same line: “at the threshold of truth sits a gatekeeper.” This being a Kafka story, the titular man who waits to be admitted through the door guarded by the gatekeeper waits in vain—for years, losing both his mind and his sight, “but still he waits.” Again, this being a Kafka story, the man tries (unsuccessfully, of course) to enlist the aid of fleas in reasoning with the gatekeeper. Before he dies, the man asks the gatekeeper why no one else has tried to gain entry, to which the gatekeeper responds: “this door is yours.” If that sends a little frisson of Socratic “know thyself” shock up your spine, then this short's for you; others are more likely to scratch their heads. Optional. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)