The Tragedy of Man is one of my favorite movies, a very underrated work, and also one of the last films directed by the legendary Hungarian animator Marcell Jankovics.
Son of the White Mare is one of his most notorious works, inspired by some Hungarian Folk Tales; unlike the usual Hollywood adaptations of mythology, this does not shy away from including even the weirdest aspects from said type of stories, disregard of any conventional logic, which combined with the psychedelic results in a very surreal watching experience.
Here, horses are able to have human offspring, breasteeding a child for several years gives him super strength, and so on, with the hero being able to achieve all kinds of impossible tasks.
The three dragons (Which are depicted like anything but that) steal the movie with their bizarre appareances, with two of them being allegorical anachronisms satirizing certain aspects from modern society, such as the war industry and the massive urbanization in detriment of the natural world, the legendary setting where many stories like this one were born.
The protagonist walking in a modern city during the credits might be a symbol of how even in modern life these stories are still relevant and without losing their importance, Jankovics often romanticized the past and was very critical of modern world, so it's no surprise the film can be seen as how the timeless myths are able to overcome the evils from our present time.
A very trippy, unique experience, filled with plenty of dream-like moments, heavily supported by its mesmerizingly stylish animation.
I do think Genndy Tartakovsky's Samurai Jack took a couple of influences from this film for its visual aesthetic, along with the Japanese 60s film The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon.
Son of the White Mare is one of his most notorious works, inspired by some Hungarian Folk Tales; unlike the usual Hollywood adaptations of mythology, this does not shy away from including even the weirdest aspects from said type of stories, disregard of any conventional logic, which combined with the psychedelic results in a very surreal watching experience.
Here, horses are able to have human offspring, breasteeding a child for several years gives him super strength, and so on, with the hero being able to achieve all kinds of impossible tasks.
The three dragons (Which are depicted like anything but that) steal the movie with their bizarre appareances, with two of them being allegorical anachronisms satirizing certain aspects from modern society, such as the war industry and the massive urbanization in detriment of the natural world, the legendary setting where many stories like this one were born.
The protagonist walking in a modern city during the credits might be a symbol of how even in modern life these stories are still relevant and without losing their importance, Jankovics often romanticized the past and was very critical of modern world, so it's no surprise the film can be seen as how the timeless myths are able to overcome the evils from our present time.
A very trippy, unique experience, filled with plenty of dream-like moments, heavily supported by its mesmerizingly stylish animation.
I do think Genndy Tartakovsky's Samurai Jack took a couple of influences from this film for its visual aesthetic, along with the Japanese 60s film The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon.