Quite a few years ago as I was flipping through TV channels as we males do I happened to run across an animated short. It was called The Man Who Waited. It was a strange little film that was filled with fun and thought provoking imagery and ideas. At the time I had no idea that it had affected me at all. I just thought it was a fun cartoon with interesting narration and style.
Over time I thought about that film a lot and ended up doing quite a bit of research on it. I discovered that it was made by a Bulgarian / Canadian named Theodore Ushev. It is a re imagining of a short story by another famous author of oddities you may know, Kafka. You cannot watch this short film on YouTube or anyplace that I can find online. The films maker is very proud of his work and wants to keep it a a revenue stream. i don’t blame the fellow one bit. I can’t even find the script anywhere so I am going o paraphrase the original story with what I can recall of the film’s narration for your reading pleasure.
A man comes to the door of knowledge, seeking admittance. The door stands open but refuses to allow him to pass. The door tells the man that if he waits long enough, perhaps, someday, he might gain entrance. The man decides to wait. Time passes as he waits by the door. He reasons with the door, which listens to his pleas but still refuses to let him through. The man begins to form a sort of kinship with the door as he studies it and begins to grow old waiting. The door acknowledges his suffering and confusion, keeping the old man company– but still does not allow him to enter. “I only do this so that you will not abandon hope entirely,” explains the door.
Eventually, when the man is very old, after many years of waiting he senses that he will soon die. As time and age begin to close in around the dying man he summons the energy to ask one final question that has puzzled him throughout the many long years. “I have been told,” he says to the door, “that knowledge exists for all. Why then, if this is true, does it happen that, in all the years I have waited, no one else has ever come to the door of knowledge?”
“This door,” he says as the old man dies, “was made only for you,” and then closes.
Sources :
http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=53918
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trial