The Epic of Gilgamesh isn’t a natural choice for the subject of a short animated film, but that’s what we have here, the first directorial effort by Czech film-maker and TV director Pavel Aujezdský. I’ve never read the Sumerian saga so I’m in no position to judge the success of Aujezdský’s adaptation, but given the strange and confusing nature of the opening scenes I’d guess it helps to be acquainted with the story. The scenes that follow are more straightforward, depicting a journey by the hero in which various powerful beings have to be confronted and either evaded or defeated.
This is one of those animated tales where the form emulates the content to some extent, in this case presenting the deeds of Gilgamesh in the manner of the tableaux found on Sumerian stone carvings. It wasn’t the first animated short based on The Epic of Gilgamesh. The Quay Brothers made This Unnameable Little Broom in 1985, two years before Aujezdský’s film, although in the Quays’ case they only dramatised a single incident from the saga. You’ll find that one on their DVD/blu-ray collections.
The film doesn’t really follow the story in the epic. It uses images and motifs. The snake of immortality, the wise survivor of the Flood Utnapishtim (the biblical Noah), the Tree of Life from Dilmun (the biblical Eden) and the walls of the ancient city of Uruk.
I’ve often wondered why somebody didn’t have a go at the entire epic. It’s a fantastic story. And animation would be a perfect way to interpret such a work. It will seem oddly familiar because as I indicated much of the imagery has Biblical counterparts although the epic of G is much older.
John, if you or anyone else is interested in reading the epic a terrific recent translation (2022) is from Danish scholar Sophus Helle. The “official” academic critical edition is from Andrew George for Penguin.
Thanks, Stephen. I agree that someone ought to do a feature-length adaptation, there are precedents already like Lesley Keen’s Ra–Path of the Sun God, and The Tragedy of Man by Marcell Jankovics. I was reading just recently about the influence of the Sumerian stories on the Biblical ones; and there’s the Labours of Hercules as well. It’s not like the saga would be completely alien territory for an audience.