13 min. / no dialog (Russian; for English subtitles, visit: https://www.animatsiya.net/film.php?filmid=1252) / dir. Sergei Ovcharov
This film combines live-action human actors with puppets and stop-motion animation techniques to tell the story of the life of Hercules in a comedic fashion. The film’s aesthetic hearkens back to the days of silent film and features Vaudevillian antics and a slapstick style, accompanied by classical music by Wagner, Offenbach and Saint-Saens. It was made as the second part of a series on “Myths” that Ovcharov undertook in 1999, though only four short films were completed (including one on another ancient topic entitled “Pharoah”).
The film utilizes the conceit of vase painting, a common trope in animation about ancient Greece, to situate the story of the hero and bring it to life. It begins with a showcase of somewhat random gods (e.g., Themis, Eros, Hephaestus, Cyclops, Poseidon, Sisyphus?, Dionysus, Asclepius) partaking in their quintessential activities, though in a silly or overblown fashion. We zoom out to see all of this taking place on a massive amphora with the word Olympos etched on it.
Next the screen goes black and the following words appear translated into various languages: “The thunderer Zeus sired the extramarital son Hercules. Zeus’ wife Hera jealously persecuted Hercules. Hercules’ life consisted of cruel violence and worthless feats.” The opening credits appear as well as an image of the hero on a vase, and as it turns we encounter a creepy Greek chorus, who begin to sing in a bombastic manner. Zeus and Hera cavort and watch from the clouds above as the cries of a baby signal the birth of the hero below. Hera gets upset at this turn of events and begins pantomime fighting with Zeus, which parallels the tussling of Alcmena and Amphitryon on earth below. Hera throws the snakes down from heaven and an already full-grown Hercules in a diaper successfully fights them off.
Next Eurystheus arrives and lures the hero to embark on his labors by offering him the club. Hercules pees on his cousin before taking up the club, much to Amphitryon’s delight. Eurystheus leads him onto another vase and to the Nemean lion, which he overcomes. A centaur appears and attacks Eurystheus’ men. A Centauromachy ensues that includes the Centaurs pooping in a projectile fashion toward their enemies. One captured centaur poops so voluminously that it fills the scene. Hercules washes it away with a vase, in a nod to the cleaning of the Augean stables. Scenes of Zeus, Hera, and the chorus observing all of these hijinks are interspersed in these labors.
Hera freezes Zeus in a cloud and conjures up a monster (the Hydra?) out of a storm cloud. After dispatching it handily, he is surrounded by a band of attacking Amazons. They battle but the Amazon queen becomes enamored with him. Eros shoots the unwilling hero with an arrow, and we next see him in women’s clothing, knitting indoors. This seems to be an allusion to the story of Omphale, the Lydian queen who enslaved Hercules and played at cross-dressing with him as a part of their sexual games. After the arrow in his shoulder is retrieved by Eros, he is restored to his old self and attacks the Amazons and some children, killing them all.
We segue to a final vase where the story of Deianeira and the Centaur Nessos plays out. He provides her with a belt that she offers to Hercules in her jealousy at his flirting with some other women. He puts it on and catches fire, then takes off like a rocket to the heavens as Deianeira kills herself in despair. The hero kisses his father Zeus and kisses Hera too, while back on earth we see people celebrating his apotheosis with drinking and dancing (Dionysus and Poseidon make another appearance here). The film ends with a Dionysian revel and a zoom out that shows all of this happening on the Olympos vase with which the film began.
In presenting the story of Hercules as a comedy, Ovcharov maintains a long tradition dating back to antiquity, where the hero was frequently depicted as figure of humorous excess.
Animated Antiquity 