The Meaning of Life
Would you rather die pursuing your dreams or die wondering about the meaning of your life?
The meaning of life is a pertinent question in everybody’s mind, yet there never seems to be a good answer, or at least not one that can be universally accepted.
I recently watched an animated short film “Le Gouffre” that may just be the answer you are searching for in the meaning of life. It is the first animated short film produced and directed by Lightning Boy Studio, a young creative team based in Montreal.
The film tells the story of two spirited travellers, yellow hair and black hair, who come across this impassable gorge blocking their journey and decide to build a bridge to cross it. This 10-minute film is inspiring to watch, and the best part is the film has no dialogue yet can tell the story so effectively through the dramatic score and beautiful animation.
The travellers’ journey is much like our life journey, where we will encounter hurdles obstructing our path every now and then, blocking us from moving forward. Some obstacles are small; we cross over without second thoughts, while others are more demanding. Once or twice in our lifetime, we will encounter a seemingly impassable gorge like the one in the film. How we respond to such life challenges determines the kind of meaning we will give to our life.
When faced with a challenge as big as the gorge, there is no easy way out. It is understandable many people would resign to fate and choose to remain on the spot. Trapped in their mundane routine, wondering about the meaning of life, and waiting for the next reincarnation.
In the film, the travellers decided to cross the seemingly impassable gorge by building a bridge over it – a few planks at a time. All this is played out in animation, without any explanation of character beyond what we could see as yellow hair and black hair with their determination, inspiration, sacrifice, and hope. The structure of the film is simply centred on the building of this bridge. It is played out so that you are drawn into the tale's simplicity – two travellers putting their hearts into overcoming a massive obstacle while the villagers look on.
The film might not initially look impressive, but toward the end, it will grab you to the core because the storytelling is gripping with so much relevance to real life. Accompanied by the beautiful scores and animations, it draws you into the story bit by bit. The entire presentation is impressive and thought-provoking.
Through their initial hard work, the yellow hair and black hair successfully built a bridge halfway across the gorge; their effort garnered applause from the villagers and gave hope that they might just be able to cross to the other side. While constructing the second phase, the weather began to turn for the worst, and the winds were gathering speed. But yellow hair and black hair persevered, hoping to use the wind to lift the other half of the bridge.
One night, the storm finally approached, and the villages took shelter in their homes except for the little girl who stayed to watch the two travellers with concern.
Yellow hair lifted his axe and chopped off the refraining rope to launch their sails into the wind, lifting the bridge along with it, putting the opposite side of the gorge within reach. Success or failure depends on that moment, and the travellers ran for their lives to pursue their dreams of crossing the gorge. They were mid-way when a lightning bolt struck the bridge igniting a fire. The anchor at the village end began to cave in, and the ropes started to slacken. The bridge was slowly collapsing; if nothing were done, the travellers would perish.
The little village girl witnessed the crucial moment and didn’t hesitate to jump in to hold the anchor, but her strength alone wasn’t enough. Yet she didn’t give up, she continued with all her might. Her determination inspired all the villagers to come forth to help her, and together, they held the bridge intact with all their might.
It was now or never for the two travellers as they made their final push toward the other end. Just when they almost reached, another lightning bolt struck the bridge again, impeding yellow hair’s advance. At this time, black hair had made it through to the other end, stretching out, hoping to grab his partner’s hand to safety. But he didn’t succeed, the bridge was collapsing, and the chance for yellow hair to make the crossing had come and gone.
All black hair could do was watch yellow hair perish into the depths. Knowing his time was up, yellow hair drew out his signal gun and fired his last flair into the air, lighting up the night sky. Upon seeing the brilliant fireworks, the villagers saw that their efforts were not in vain.
The villagers rejoiced as they thought both of them had crossed the gorge and had achieved what was deemed impossible.
It was a thought-provoking ending, one that touched on the meaning of life. If you knew your chance of success was slim, would you risk your life to pursue your dream? More important than that, if you knew your time was up, what would you do with whatever was left? Would you like yellow hair? Light up the night sky to leave a legacy for the people behind to rejoice over. Yellow hair might have died pursuing his dreams, but in the hearts of those villagers, he had made it. He had given meaning to his life and positive meaning for other people to feel inspired, the never give up spirit even if it had cost him his life.
Would you rather die pursuing your dreams or die wondering about the meaning of your life?
If you are feeling inspired like me, I do encourage you to click on the below link to watch the entire clip and support the creator. A highly recommended film produced and directed by Lightning Boy Studio.
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Winston, your retelling was splendid and I felt the depth of commitment to give everything to follow your dream. Intense. An unexpected inner adventure. Thank you! P.S. Had to watch the clip IMMEDIATELY and got to feel the tension all over again. Nice.