The winner of Best Animated Short Film at the 53rd Academy Awards depicts a fly flitting about, all told from the insect's point of view. I understand that Ferenc Rofusz wasn't allowed to leave Hungary to attend the Academy Awards, but someone accepted the Oscar for him. Anyway, "A Légy" ("The Fly" in English) is a clever cartoon. Rofusz probably didn't have a lot of resources, but he had the talent, and that's what you really need to turn out a good piece of work. The Eastern Bloc turned out a lot of good cartoons. I also recommend the old Yugoslavian cartoons.I get the feeling that members of the order Diptera must sometimes feel as if humans are out to get them.

"The Fly" is a 1981 Hungarian 3-minute short film and it may be among the shortest winner of Oscars in the Best Animated Short Film category. Director Ferenc Rófusz was in his 30s when he made this and he managed to build a decent career on that Oscar success in the last 30 years. Still, nothing that came close to this huge success again, but he could certainly pay his bills from his work in animation. I am generally not too familiar with Hungarian cinema or animation at all, so this was a nice little watch. I really do not like insects, so I probably could not have dealt with that annoying sound from the fly for much longer than 3 minutes, so I'm glad it's over. The animation is fairly unique as well. Looks like it took a lot of effort to make all these images, even if it is such a short movie. All in all, I recommend this. Do not expect anything outstanding, but it's a nice little journey and we find out how a fly sees the world and perceives her constant fight for survival. Thumbs up.

Most people seeing this film today will probably not be very excited about its graphics--after all, amazing computer generated graphics and techniques are the norm today. But for 1980, this is a truly unusual film and has a great look. The film is the world as seen by a fly. Apparently flies are color blind and everything in the film is sepia tinted. The backgrounds are all painted with a black brush and as the camera follows the path of the fly, they use a fish-eye lens to heighten the effect that you're seeing what the fly is seeing. The actual content, while interesting, isn't that important--it's more the experience of seeing the world from this unusual viewpoint that is the film.Not surprisingly, this film received the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film and is a good film for fans of the genre. However, the casual viewer might not be so captivated by this experimental film.

This short, an Oscar winner, is an exceptionally detailed effort that can be a bit unsettling at first (particularly for anyone who has problems with depth-perception), but is a fascinatingly drawn and meticulously constructed animation and is a must-see if you like animation. Fortunately, it is currently in-print. Most highly recommended.