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Clip description
As Harvie’s Alzheimer’s disease worsens, his nursing home is visited by a church group, entertaining him with the song 'God is better than football, God is better than beer’. Harvie sees in his imagination the residents of the home animated into a choreographic sequence, inspired by Busby Berkeley’s 1930s Hollywood musicals.
Curator’s notes
Once more, Harvie triumphs over adversity, this time with the aid of song and his imagination. Sung by Julie Forsyth (also the voice of Harvie’s mother) and the Elwood Primary School Choir, the song, with its cheekiness and innocence, soars above the sadness and boredom of the nursing home. The ensuing 'Busby Berkeley extravaganza’ may be the first ever, mini-musical incorporating wheelchairs in perfect formation. A fusion of claymation and CGI, this sequence neatly combines traditional animation with state of the art technology.
