I have a weird interest in public information films and advertisements. As long as you're not endangering other people, I don't care if people do drugs, get drunk, etc. And I recognize it as your own personal choice. However, I enjoy the horrific, disturbing, gory, surreal, and darkly humorous ways these forms of art can deliver their messages. So far though, I've yet to see a PIF better than this one.
A lot of PIFs can be preachy with their messages, but this film avoids that and delivers its messages in subtle ways. For example, instead of a preachy line of dialogue that condemns the parents for failing to properly take care of their kids, this point is conveyed indirectly. The parents are shown mostly in the background of their kids playing, paying no attention to them and going about their work as normal. The implication is that the parents aren't watching their kids closely enough and are partly responsible for their deaths. Even the closing credits which list various kids who were killed in farm accidents avoids being preachy as, since it's juxtaposed with the parents nonchalantly eating dinner and seemingly paying no attention to how several kids have died on the farm in such a short time span, it implies that nothing has been fixed and these accidents will continue to happen if the parents don't change their ways.
I think that director John Mackenzie finds the right balance between depicting the disturbing elements of the death scenes without wallowing in excessive violence. For example, a young girl is run over by a tractor in the opening, but instead of showing her body being run over, we see a cut away right as she falls under the wheel, a shot of the tractor wheels moving up and down as they drive over her, and a small trickle of blood left over after her death. While some blood is shown in at least one more death scene later on, the violence in it isn't excessive either and feels more disturbing than violent. Mackenzie also utilizes quick cuts and frenetic cinematography for the build up to some of the death scenes to increase the intensity of them, making them all the more effective. The most disturbing death in this film though was Sharon's, by far. After she accidentally ingests a toxic substance on the farm (weed killer, I think), she returns home and begins screaming in pain and calling for her parents in the middle of the night as the substance burns her from the inside. It's a truly horrifying scene and, even though it's shown offscreen, her blood-curdling and horrifying screams say all that is needed.
The film also feels dreamlike for a handful of reasons. For instance, in between the vignettes of the kids dying lies a couple scenes which occur after their deaths at different points in time. A few of those scenes, like their nametags or books being removed from their school or their clothes being removed from their dressers, convey part of the aftermath of their deaths. Another recurring scene shows a group of parents getting ready to eat dinner. They set the table, shine their shoes, and lay out clothes to wear for it. The lack of context to what they're doing causes one to speculate on what the purpose of the dinner will be and what it means for the surviving kids. Danny's narration also contributes to the film's dreamlike feel. He assumes the character of a Native American chief and gives insight both to what the kids are doing when they play and the "party" the parents are preparing for. Since Danny dies prior to the dinner, his narration takes on a ghostly feel, one which is heightened upon rewatching the film. These touches of surrealism add a lot to the film.
The best extension of the surrealism though concerns the behavior of the kids. In spite of how their reckless behavior causes them to die one by one throughout the film, they continue to play with each other as if nothing has happened. Though this may seem really confusing at first glance, the title of the film provides the reason for their behavior. The Apache are a group of Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States that have been around for several hundred years. Historically, if some of them were killed in a raid or a fight, they wouldn't give up - they would fight in more raids. This extends to the behavior of the kids. They pretended to fight each other and other people throughout the film and, even if one of them was killed, they'd continue play-fighting as Apaches another day.
Overall, Apaches is a great short film. Even if public information films aren't in your normal wheelhouse, you should still check it out as it contains a lot to enjoy.
A lot of PIFs can be preachy with their messages, but this film avoids that and delivers its messages in subtle ways. For example, instead of a preachy line of dialogue that condemns the parents for failing to properly take care of their kids, this point is conveyed indirectly. The parents are shown mostly in the background of their kids playing, paying no attention to them and going about their work as normal. The implication is that the parents aren't watching their kids closely enough and are partly responsible for their deaths. Even the closing credits which list various kids who were killed in farm accidents avoids being preachy as, since it's juxtaposed with the parents nonchalantly eating dinner and seemingly paying no attention to how several kids have died on the farm in such a short time span, it implies that nothing has been fixed and these accidents will continue to happen if the parents don't change their ways.
I think that director John Mackenzie finds the right balance between depicting the disturbing elements of the death scenes without wallowing in excessive violence. For example, a young girl is run over by a tractor in the opening, but instead of showing her body being run over, we see a cut away right as she falls under the wheel, a shot of the tractor wheels moving up and down as they drive over her, and a small trickle of blood left over after her death. While some blood is shown in at least one more death scene later on, the violence in it isn't excessive either and feels more disturbing than violent. Mackenzie also utilizes quick cuts and frenetic cinematography for the build up to some of the death scenes to increase the intensity of them, making them all the more effective. The most disturbing death in this film though was Sharon's, by far. After she accidentally ingests a toxic substance on the farm (weed killer, I think), she returns home and begins screaming in pain and calling for her parents in the middle of the night as the substance burns her from the inside. It's a truly horrifying scene and, even though it's shown offscreen, her blood-curdling and horrifying screams say all that is needed.
The film also feels dreamlike for a handful of reasons. For instance, in between the vignettes of the kids dying lies a couple scenes which occur after their deaths at different points in time. A few of those scenes, like their nametags or books being removed from their school or their clothes being removed from their dressers, convey part of the aftermath of their deaths. Another recurring scene shows a group of parents getting ready to eat dinner. They set the table, shine their shoes, and lay out clothes to wear for it. The lack of context to what they're doing causes one to speculate on what the purpose of the dinner will be and what it means for the surviving kids. Danny's narration also contributes to the film's dreamlike feel. He assumes the character of a Native American chief and gives insight both to what the kids are doing when they play and the "party" the parents are preparing for. Since Danny dies prior to the dinner, his narration takes on a ghostly feel, one which is heightened upon rewatching the film. These touches of surrealism add a lot to the film.
The best extension of the surrealism though concerns the behavior of the kids. In spite of how their reckless behavior causes them to die one by one throughout the film, they continue to play with each other as if nothing has happened. Though this may seem really confusing at first glance, the title of the film provides the reason for their behavior. The Apache are a group of Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States that have been around for several hundred years. Historically, if some of them were killed in a raid or a fight, they wouldn't give up - they would fight in more raids. This extends to the behavior of the kids. They pretended to fight each other and other people throughout the film and, even if one of them was killed, they'd continue play-fighting as Apaches another day.
Overall, Apaches is a great short film. Even if public information films aren't in your normal wheelhouse, you should still check it out as it contains a lot to enjoy.