AndrewBloom

8/10

Spoilers

[8.0/10] Sobering. It is a bracing thought that here we are, the better part of a century later, and this tale of mankind’s self-immolation in the shadow of grim adversarialism feels as relevant as ever. I’d like to think we’ve learned something since the horrors of World War II, a conflict which this short debuted right on the cusp of. But the fact that its message feels as salient now as it did then doesn’t necessarily give me the warm holiday fuzzies. *Peace on Earth* is more of a warning, a polemic even. The idea of a post-apocalyptic world taken over by woodland creatures is a little silly, and yet it works an age appropriate caution of what could happen if we continue down this path. The images of endless battle, appropriated from the First World War, are haunting. And the idea of men finding excuse after excuse to squabble and slaughter each other is rendered in grim visual poetry by Messers. Hanna and Barbera. The frame story, of an elder squirrel telling man’s tale of woe to his intrigued grandchildren, is a surprisingly cute way to sidle up to such bleakness. The sequence of he and his compatriots rebuilding in the wastes creates that bustling ecosystem of life that cartoons can do so well. And the warmth of his refrain of “Peace on earth, and goodwill toward men” takes on extra resonance over the course of the short, no small feat for a phrase that's become an old yuletide saw. But more than the futile death march of war, it’s fascinating when the short gets religious about it. To be frank, we don’t see as much of that these days, so someone invoking biblical commandments as an anti-war sentiments seems almost radical by modern standards. There is something nigh-literally damning about woodland critters reading the ten commandments, declaring it a “pretty good” set of rules, and wondering why mankind ignored them to their doom. On the whole, *Peace on Earth* is a piercing, bracing, at times disturbing rendition of the futility of war, somehow conveyed through funny animals. That the creative team managed to succeed at all, let alone create something so original, is an absolute achievement for them. The fact that it’s still so resonant all these years later is an absolute indictment on us.