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Neighbours
Norman McLaren applies the principles used to animate drawings or puppets to animate live actors. Neighbours is a parable about two people who come to blows over the possession of a flower. First, the neighbours are shown to co-exist in an illusory harmony while consuming polarising information from pernicious media outlets. However, once the flower appears, they embark on a deadly quest to possess it—destroying everything that was beautiful in the process.
McLaren once said: “I was inspired to make Neighbours by a stay in the People’s Republic of China. Although I only saw the beginnings of Mao’s revolution, it reinvigorated my faith in human nature. Then I came back to Quebec, and the Korean War began. I decided to make a really strong film about anti-militarism and against war.”
In the film, the two neighbours represent French and English Canada, but the political context shifts depending on the viewers’ personal positions. American audiences interpreted the film as a caustic commentary on the Vietnam War, and McLaren was asked to censor some of the more violent imagery. It was this watered-down version of the short that eventually won an Oscar.
Bio Norman McLaren
Norman McLaren (1914-1987) was a Scottish-born Canadian animator and director known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). He was a pioneer in a number of areas, including drawn-on-film animation, visual music, abstract film, pixilation, and graphical sound. His awards included an Oscar for Best Documentary in 1952 for Neighbours, a Silver Bear for best short documentary at the 1956 Berlin International Film Festival, and a 1969 BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film for Pas de deux.
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- This film was #37 in the “Greatest” Short Films of All Time 2025