Animation As Emotional Translation

Read Time:5 Minute, 12 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
The Sounds of Things Ablaze (Le bruit des choses qui brûlent)
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Genre: Animated Short, Documentary
Year Released: 2025, 2026
Runtime: 7m
Director: Hayat Najm
Where to Watch: shown at the 2026 Santa Barbara International Film Festival

RAVING REVIEW: How does the body and soul carry the weight of war long after the fighting stops? THE SOUNDS OF THINGS ABLAZE answers that question not through detailed explanation, but through sensation. In just under seven minutes, Hayat Najm’s animated short captures the aftershocks of violence as something lived physically, instinctively, and involuntarily, transforming trauma into movement rather than memory.

The film follows a woman walking down a sidewalk, avoiding cracks in the pavement with a childlike precision that immediately signals anxiety. This simple action becomes the foundation for everything that follows. Her body is alert, braced, responsive to invisible threats. The war she survived is no longer literal, but it remains embedded in muscle memory, posture, and reflex. Najm understands that trauma doesn’t declare itself but instead reveals itself through behavior.

What gives THE SOUNDS OF THINGS ABLAZE its true clarity is its refusal to impose a linear story. There are no explanations, no historical framing, no spoken words to guide interpretation. Instead, Najm relies on metamorphosis. Objects transform, dissolve, and reassemble. Images appear and vanish. Violence is suggested rather than depicted, allowing the viewer to feel unease without being forced into a graphic depiction. This approach respects both the subject and the audience, trusting that emotional recognition doesn’t require explicit depiction.

The choice of charcoal drawings accented with gold paint is central to the film’s effect. The imagery feels raw, textured, and unstable, as though it could smudge or disappear at any moment. Gold lines trace fractures rather than hiding them, echoing the philosophy behind kintsugi (the centuries-old Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, which highlights rather than hides fractures) without reducing it to metaphorical shorthand. The gold doesn’t attempt to beautify pain. It acknowledges its presence, giving shape to wounds that cannot be erased.

Sound plays an equally vital role. The piano score by Jean-Michel Blais anchors emotion in its use of the piano. The music moves with restraint, allowing silence and space to carry as much weight as melody. In the absence of dialogue, sound becomes the film’s voice, guiding cadence rather than meaning. It reinforces the idea that trauma isn’t told internally; it is felt.

Najm’s decision to make the film without words isn’t some flourish. It’s a philosophical stance. THE SOUNDS OF THINGS ABLAZE understands that some experiences resist language entirely. War doesn’t always leave behind stories that can be told. What remains are impressions, causes, and reactions that surface unexpectedly. By leaning into abstraction, the film honors reality rather than simplifying it.

What’s especially striking is how the film frames vigilance as exhaustion rather than heroism. The woman’s constant watchfulness doesn’t get portrayed as strength in the conventional sense, but as a state she has no choice but to be in. Najm resists the temptation to romanticize resilience. Survival here is not triumphant or even empowering; it is ongoing, repetitive, and draining. That distinction matters more than you might expect. By focusing on small, regular movements rather than dramatic flashbacks, the film captures how trauma embeds itself into everyday life, reshaping even the most mundane actions. Walking becomes calculation. Stillness becomes tension. Safety becomes provisional. In these moments, THE SOUNDS OF THINGS ABLAZE articulates something deeply human, the cost of continuing to function, even when the danger has supposedly passed.

Despite its brevity, the short never feels like it's missing anything. Its power comes from concentration. Every image serves a purpose. Every transition carries intention. The contrast between softness and violence is carefully calibrated, ensuring that the film remains emotionally accessible without becoming comforting. This isn’t a story about healing in the traditional sense. It is about endurance, about continuing to move forward while carrying damage that never disappears. Even if some of the scars are bandaged, the wounds cut too deeply.

Some viewers may find certain motifs elusive or too open-ended, particularly those expecting a sense of cohesion. Without question, that ambiguity feels intentional rather than evasive. THE SOUNDS OF THINGS ABLAZE is not asking to be decoded. It is asking to be felt. It’s asking to be experienced, to fight through those moments within yourself, and to realize that those scars are something that are a part of the pearls of war.

The film demonstrates remarkable confidence in its restraint. It never overreaches and doesn’t attempt to universalize trauma beyond recognition. Instead, it presents a deeply personal expression that resonates precisely because it refuses to overexplain itself. In doing so, Najm delivers a short work that lingers far beyond its runtime, leaving behind an emotional residue that feels earned.

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[photo courtesy of NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA (NFB)]

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