Don’t Cry

Don’t Cry is an animated short film about the aftermath of Artificial Intelligence domination over the humans. The film is a premonition of what will come out of the unchecked development of technology with no thought for the future of humankind and a depiction of a dystopian world where the Artificial Intelligence has a totalitarian control over the doings of the human beings. Increasing human population being a hindrance to the A.I., harsh birth laws come into existence forbidding humans to procreate. Unable to overcome their desire to bear children, people try to circumvent the laws with no success. This film depicts how a mother tries to save her child from being killed in the name of unforgiving law.

Trying to escape to a community called ‘The Human Tribe’ where there is still a chance to save their newborns many couples hide their infants in small backpacks and travel to an unknown place. However, regardless of the place the alarms go off at the sound of an infant crying, following which a group of robotic law personnel come and take away the parents and their infant to obliterate them. With a small hope to break free from the authoritarian laws, a couple tries to escape in a train. We are presented with some action sequences followed by a revelation that is truly a sign of merit of Artificial Intelligence.

The title of the film is the most interesting thing. It is not only the most appropriate thing to name this film after, but also renders a plaintiveness to the story. The pain in the eyes of parents to see their newborn babies being taken away, and the despairing utterances of mothers’ ‘Don’t Cry’ are genuinely captured in this animated short. The story truly is disturbing in more than one ways. Being unable to have a desire to bear children in a world we have helped build makes anyone apprehensive about the future of advanced technology, where it seems inevitable for us to lead the lives of robots ourselves.

The illustration of the characters and the animation of the setting have greatly benefited the narration. The opening scene in the train truly conveys the urgency and the helplessness of the situation the primary characters are in. The couple cannot run, nor can they fight with the batch of cyborgs with firearms incorporated into their structures. It may seem exaggerated at first when a fight breaks between a couple of robots and the primary character, but with a revelation at the end of the film, we overwrite our previous impressions. And while we are at that, the scene where the baby is left in the boat is a little ambiguous at first, but the idea is cleared up later when the enforcers go search for it.    

One will feel that the animation is truly praiseworthy when presented with a scene where the faces of the law enforcers are revealed in the light of bullets fired. Films like Don’t Cry are a forewarning of a future that is not in the control of the mankind. This film is presented with an unfaltering narration and brilliantly visualized characters.