Sunday, October 09, 2005

UNICEF Kills Smurfs



I got this from TV Squad. It seems that UNICEF is showing this in Belgium to raise money for their campaign to rehabilitate former child soliders in Burudi.

The short film pulls no punches. It opens with the Smurfs dancing, hand-in-hand, around a campfire and singing the Smurf song. Bluebirds flutter past and rabbits gambol around their familiar village of mushroom- shaped houses until, without warning, bombs begin to rain from the sky.

Tiny Smurfs scatter and run in vain from the whistling bombs, before being felled by blast waves and fiery explosions. The final scene shows a scorched and tattered Baby Smurf sobbing inconsolably, surrounded by prone Smurfs.

The final frame bears the message: "Don't let war affect the lives of children."

It is intended as the keystone of a fund-raising drive by Unicef's Belgian arm, to raise £70,000 for the rehabilitation of former child soldiers in Burundi.


While the idea of a child solider horrifies me, I believe that this would not meet their needs if shown in the US. I can imagine (imagine, hell, I personally know a few) parents who would cheer at the idea of the Smurf Village being bombed.

It wasn't too many years ago that the Smurf song haunted my nightmares.

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