Educational Media Reviews Online

Tragic Story with Happy Ending is a short animated black and white film containing a lesson plan booklet intended for ages 10-12. This tale attempts to teach students the importance of respecting individual differences in each other and self-acceptance. The story portrays a little girl living in a small community who is born with a heart of a bird which happens to beat loudly. People and animals in the neighborhood are disturbed by the loud beating and are not accepting of her in the beginning. She explains to everyone that “her body is not her own because it is a bird’s heart.” As time goes on, people forget about the noise as the rhythm eventually blends in with the town’s daily sounds. A breakthrough occurs when the girl’s self-acceptance becomes more and more evident as she becomes more comfortable in her own skin. Eventually, an unusual metamorphosis takes place when she sprouts wings and flies away naked out of a window.

Although this short-take is creatively presented and is considered fantasy, it reaches beyond the simple objective of the lesson plan provided for young children. Educators should be aware of its abstract content for younger viewers as it does touch upon the issue of death in the ending. For example, people within the community realize that she has gone away and state, “they didn’t know if someone was being born or had died, but one thing was certain that this is the way everyone would have liked to leave.” Is this an affirmation of death or someone being reborn? The storyline does not stay entirely focused on the idea of respecting individual differences in a conventional way. Sprouting wings like a bird does not demonstrate a natural comparison of differences in people. Illustrations of everyday living within the community include cigarettes lying on a dresser and some nudity.

Technically, the film is of high quality and delivers graphically. As an artist and animator, Pessoa possess a creative edge who demonstrates a great use of technique in her work. She uses photocopies with images etched into India ink on glossy white paper. Black and white patterns of chiseled, pointy features of the characters throughout the graphics are consistent throughout, but are unsettling. The video would be suitable for older students interested in film-making or focusing on the individual artist for research purposes. Tragic Story with Happy Ending has been internationally recognized and has received several Film Festival awards:

• The Annecy International Animated Film Festival
• The Annecy Cristal Award, the Festival’s most prestigious prize
• TPS Cineculte Award for a Short Film