Harvie Krumpet

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Harvie Krumpet

Directed by	Adam Elliot
Written by	Adam Elliot
Starring	Geoffrey Rush, Julie Forsyth, Kamahl, John Flaus
Release date(s)	2003
Running time	23 mins
Language	English
IMDb profile

Harvie Krumpet is an Australian claymation, made in St Kilda, Melbourne by Adam Elliot (Melodrama Pictures). This short (23 min) film won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film in 2003, in addition to numerous festival awards and the 2004 Australian Film Institute Best Short Animation award.

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The story revolves around the life of Harvek Milos Krumpetzki, born in Poland in 1922. At the outbreak of World War II he comes to Spotswood in Australia as a refugee, and changes his name to Harvie Krumpet. Despite a life filled with bad luck - such as having Tourette's Syndrome, being struck by lightning, and losing one of his testicles - Harvie remains ever optimistic, living out his own eccentric way of life, marrying a nurse he meets in hospital and raising an adoptive daughter, who is a Thalidomide baby. Throughout his disaster-ridden life, people around him come and go, but right to the end Harvie delights in the simple pleasure of life. In one of the pivotal episodes of his life Harvie sits in the park next to the statue of Horace while he hears the instructional Carpe diem what leads to many changes in hero's life including embracing the naturist ways and embarking on daring rescue missions for animal rights.

That this film is a series of clay figures, not a computer generated animation makes it even more powerful. The naïve simplicity of Harvie is an extended metaphor for all that youth values in life - a clear sense of values and strength of family.