Four minutes of abstract rage against Pearl Harbor — with Stravinsky screaming.
In December, 1941, using music by Stravinsky, this film provides a reaction to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. An egg is smashed by a hammer; red color with white and then blue dominates the frame. Blue paint runs; small bulbs float. The dark colors spread. White, red, blue, and black dominate the frame. Then comes fire. The bulbs burn and break. A broken bulb's filaments are exposed.
Direction
Francis Lee smashes eggs and emotions with equal force.
Score
Stravinsky makes four minutes feel like war.
Director
Francis Lee
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made mere days after Pearl Harbor, this is probably the fastest artistic response to a national tragedy in American film history.
Lee was part of the American avant-garde scene that treated abstraction as political weaponry — this isn't just art, it's a manifesto in motion.
US
