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nFantastic Planet (1973)
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nDirector: Rene Laloux
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nFantastic Planet (Le Planete Sauvage) has been my favoritenanimated film since forever, for many reasons, but primarily because it’s an amazingnfilm experience in every sense of the word; it’s not only a visual feast, butnalso a feast for the mind. If you guys know anything about me, then you know Inhave a soft spot for Subversive Cinema. These are films that are about ‘thenpeople’ fighting ‘the system’, people fighting the good fight; which is one ofnthe many reasons why I love Fantastic Planet, it’s all about the rebels versusnthe oppressors. The Draags vs. the Oms, will they ever learn to live in peace?
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nOn Fantastic Planet we meet two races; on the one hand wenhave the Draags, which are these gigantic beings with blue skin and red eyes.nThey are the ruling class on planet Ygam. They are the elite, also known as thosenin power or the “high class”. Then we have the Oms, which are basically humans,nbut in comparison to the Draags, the Oms are minuscule in size. Humans are like littlenrodents to Draags and in some instances, they function as their pets. BasicallynOms are these wild, uneducated creatures that amuse the Draags, but also seemnlike pests to them. Yet Oms, aren’t complete idiots, they have the capacitynto learn, they have potential within them. Which is probably why the Draags would rather have them completely eradicatednfrom the planet. The Draags fear that the Oms might one day get smart and overtakenPlanet Ygam. Will the Oms ever rise and rebel? Or will the Draags succeed innerradecating them from the planets surface?
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nFantastic Planet comes to us from Rene Laloux, the directornbehind two other animated gems: Time Masters (1982) and Gandahar (1987). If you end up enjoying Fantastic Planet, I recommend checking out the aforementioned films as well. Thenbest of the bunch is Fantastic Planet, but trust me; Time Masters and Gandahar are also worth thenwatch. But anyways, Fantastic Planet deals with themes that are familiar to allnof Laloux films, the fight versus ‘the system’. Why are the people oppressed? Shouldnthey rebel? Also, it addresses classicist issues. Why do some humans considernthemselves superior to others? Why must this barrier exist? To the casualnviewer, this movie might just seem like a ‘trippy’ film (which it is) yetnif we take a deeper look, we can see that Fantastic Planet is all about thenfight to educate the masses, to give freedom to a population that is enslavednboth physically and mentally. Interesting how this film was made more than fourndecades ago yet its themes are more relevant now than ever. People are stillnbeing oppressed, there are still governments that step on its people; educationnis still being taken away from the working class. I mean, really, most of usncan’t pay a hundred thousand dollars a year to go to college. And who wantsnsuch a huge debt on their backs when they get out of college? Truth of thenmatter is that education is available only to those who can pay it, the highnclass, the rich, the rest can go to community college or get a job atnMcDonalds, working for the man, which is the way the man likes it. But what happens when the masses wake up?
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nFantastic Planet is all about knowledge, education and thenimportance of acquiring it in order to thrive in the world. You see, the Oms innthis film are born ignorant, wild. The ones with the education and thenknowledge are the all powerful Draggs who use these rings they place on theirnheads to educate themselves. The interesting part of this film comes when onenof the Oms called ‘Terr’ steals one of the knowledge rings from the Draggs andnbegins to educate himself. Soon he grows up into a knowledgeable young man, andnstarts educating the rest of the Oms who live in the wild. He soon begins tonorganize a revolution. This is the Draags biggest fear, that the Oms willnorganize, grow smart and revolt; which is basically the same fear thatngovernments of the world have of their people. That they might one day grow anbrain, wise up and realize that they’ve been taken for fools. Education in thenworld could be made more accessible, more affordable and it should be so much better than what it is. Youngnpeople should not be taken for granted, they should be taught to believe thatnthey have the ability to achieve anything they want, because they can. Becausenanything we can think of can be achieved. But no, instead, books are banned,nschools are closed, tuition prices are raised to prohibitive prices and fundsnfor education are either stolen or diverted, or both. Educating ourselves isnturned into an uphill battle. I speak of my country, but I know this holds truenfor other parts of the world as well.
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nThis is why college students revolt and fight back, and thatnis why police officers are brought in to pacify them, because they are wisingnup, they are growing a brain, they know things shouldn’t be this way. So therenlies the conflict, and this is primarily what Fantastic Planet is all about. Itngoes through all the processes and situations that a rebel cause will gonthrough and face. It demonstrates that feeling of being stepped on by those innpower. This might make this movie sound boring to some of you out there, butntrust me it is not. Rene Laloux and graphic designer/writer Roland Topor makensure that this film is never boring, not for a second. The planet of Ygam is annamazing place to visit. It is populated with the craziest looking creatures,nthe most outlandish landscapes, trust me you won’t want to take your eyes offnthe screen. Yes, this film can be categorized under the ‘trippy/visual films’nbanner, it is after all a visual wonder. The artistry and the designs involved in thisnproduction warrant a watch, trust me, you won’t be disappointed. Fantastic Planetnis an incredibly unique experience; younhaven’t seen anything like it. It still remains, after all these years, mynfavorite animated film of all time. Nowngo watch it!
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nRating: 5 out of 5
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