June 12, 2026

Despite his protestations to the contrary, there is still quite a bit of controversy around Andrea Gatopoulos's somewhat dystopian view of the future of humanity. Whether or not this is the product of AI, it is still a rather bleakly Orwellian story that takes us back to mediaeval times when the written word was very much in the purview of those in authority. This, though, goes a few steps further as it seeks to toxify the very nature of words th… read the rest.

Despite his protestations to the contrary, there is still quite a bit of controversy around Andrea Gatopoulos's somewhat dystopian view of the future of humanity. Whether or not this is the product of AI, it is still a rather bleakly Orwellian story that takes us back to mediaeval times when the written word was very much in the purview of those in authority. This, though, goes a few steps further as it seeks to toxify the very nature of words themselves. This isn't about burning or proscribing books, this is about suggesting that the written words themselves are actually, physically, poisonous. Nobody knows which words trigger this fatal pandemic so the ensuing societal paranoia sees libraries abandoned and reading, and even speaking, prohibited. This is seriously disturbing for a young man and his lover who find that they can no longer communicate. They lose touch and have no way to re-establish communication, especially as the powers that be conclude than an altogether new language might be the solution. How can that possibly be tainted? This is a story of extremes and though hardly plausible, I thought it did work. It plays quite effectively to the gullableness and willingness to follow of great swathes of the population whilst leaking a few darkly comedic elements too. The hybrid style of the animation worked eerily well for me, and indeed whether or not it is the product of an artificial mind, it does ask us to sit back and reflect on just how trusting we have become of technology; of how addicted we have become to it's services and it does ask quite a potent question about whether or not we have an idea how to differentiate between what's real and what's not any more.

show less