The Big Snit

This film is all about humans. This film stayed as my all time favorite short cartoon since!...

Isn't it the simplest things that make life so much more interesting?! We humans are so soft, compassionate, funny, caring to each other one moment -- we invent the most beautiful and amazing machines to kill as many people as possible with least effort the next. In our short lives, we destroy our world, each other and often, our own lives, than get together, try fixing what we've destroyed. Most of the time, there is nothing left to fix!

This film entertain, educate and even help us realize what is wrong in our lives (with us)! Life in general is short and can be even shorter! The ending of his movie is way too optimistic I am afraid.

I love Richard Condie's mind and what he makes happen with it!

Enjoy

H.K.

My title is about the extent of the plot. But it is all of the details that make this one so special. A couple plays scrabble while the wife takes her eyeballs out, shakes them, and puts them back in, repeatedly, annoying the husband. . Only in animation. They take a break from the game and the wife vacuums. The husband watches his guilty favorite of a show - a game show called "Sawing For Teens." Yes with real saws. Both husband and wife manage to miss the TV alert saying that worldwide nuclear war has broken out.

So this is about two people who argue and make up against the background of a sudden end they do not know is coming. Their cat does what you would expect of a cat in that situation - he packs his bags and leaves.

I've always loved this film, it's so touching and sweet, while being surreal and full of strange little details, like the massive tire in one of the rooms - I spot something new every time I watch it. Perfection.

And it turns out that so far mankind has not had to face extinction from global nuclear war. However, this short did predict the trend of stupid reality shows. I'd highly recommend watching it several times.

This is a masterpiece. 'The Big Snit' is a crazy, weird, hilarious and eventually touching look at an old married couple and their quiet life, who argue over sawing and scrabble while a nuclear war rages on outside. Everything in this great animated short stands out as memorable: The eye shaking of the wife, the vacuuming binge, the husband's saw fetish (keep an eye on those backgrounds!), the very verbal cat, the demented game show, the "informative" news anchor, the "beautiful" accordion serenade and the moving and memorable ending. I am so glad I found 'The Big Snit', which is hands down one of the greatest works of film ever produced.

'The Big Snit' came into my life complete by accident and has left an indelible mark on my soul. A scar of love, destruction and pointlessness that will forever be a part of my life. This is tale of beautiful futility. We are helpless without each other. We are helpless against governmental wrong-doings. We are helpless as to the choices we all try to make when in love. Deaf to the mutterings and goings on of an world outside the window. Blind to an inevitable apocalypse. Dumb of the hatred and greedy opinions of an over-indulgent society. This is a tale of personal commitment and triumphant love defeating the ideologies of war. Their petty bickering is a sublime observation of human nature and of how love comes with it's pains and darkness Everyone has some irritating aspect to their personality and this is observed by the makers in the most simplistic and fantastic way. We travel only a short distance with the two main characters but are left wanting to complete our own journeys with a some of their simple,loving, honest philosophy in tow. I am so very glad that i exist in this 'our time'. Another 20 years either side of my birth date, and i would not have seen and felt.... ....The Big Snit. William White. Sheffield.

Richard Condie is a Canadian marvel, and one that should be shared with the world. Be it for gut-busting early work such as "Getting Started" and the Oscar-nominated "Snit" through "The Apprentice" and the digitally made "La Salla", Condie is a treasured local hero. But no singular piece of work puts a stamp on his career quite like "The Big Snit". And did I mention it was nominated for an Academy Award? Darn tootin'.

"The Big Snit", although clearly a dated message-bearer from the 1980s (the short revolves around Cold War-esquire nuclear annihilation, but don't worry – it's hilarious as hell), carries with it a larger meaning, as is most of Condie's work in an understated sort of way. While the planet scurries for cover from Armageddon, a couple bickers over each others' annoying habits (in true Condie fashion, he hacksaws the furniture while she shakes her eyes – literally). And don't forget to watch it again and again, 'cuz there's always something to look at. Condie loads this fella up with countless visual gags and memorable catch-phrases.

I strongly encourage this incredible piece of animation be tracked down. In Canada it's usually spotted in a National Film Board video that includes other stellar shorts (including fellow Winnipegger Cordell Barker's equally funny "The Cat Came Back"). Americans will just have to dig a little deeper, but keep at it – the reward is worth the toil.