Fragile Machine (2005)

• 68%
• 2005
• Animation
• Science Fiction

Fragile Machine is an underground cg film about science, religion, and man's role in a new nature of which he has partial authorship. Through a unique combination of animation and music which some have likened to an 'electronic operetta' it tells the story of the first girl to be built in a factory instead of born from a womb. The questions abound regarding her creation. Why was she made? Does she have a soul? Where would she go if she died? These and other questions are all examined in a fractured and experimental way. As in opera, the story serves the music and visuals, whose style embodies the drama of the piece. It is intended for audiences who love film and animation for their own sake, who want to take time to dissect a massively layered and compressed work and extract meaning and underlying structure. The work draws upon conclusions from quantum physics about the structure of reality, and attempts to build a bridge between numerous philosophical and religious traditions including western existentialism, Buddhism, Zen nature-worship, Jungian Analysis and Christianity. Every frame has been imbued with meaning, and the loving attention to detail is almost heartbreaking, as Leda Nea asks the darkness who she is, and why. Featuring six chapters, it merges advanced computer animation and music in a wholly new method of postmodern storytelling. Woven into the film's hypnotic narrative are fractured and nonlinear examinations of humanity's roots and future.