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Clip description
Harvie Krumpet wishes for things to change, and they certainly do. The family home burns to the ground, his parents are frozen to death, the Germans invade and he escapes to Australia.
Curator’s notes
This is the first salvo of Harvie’s misfortunes, a dramatic turn of events to challenge our already challenged hero. Like millions of migrants before him, he sails to a far-off land, in search of a better life. Elliot deftly conveys the strokes of bad luck and emotional turmoil in a short series of still shots (destruction and death), followed by a minimum of animation (mourning at the grave, ship at sea). War and danger are evoked with sound effects only: a plane flying and exploding.
Proving that less is more, the director covers a lot of ground in this tragi-comic sequence, which in turn gains full attention and sympathy from the audience.
