It starts out with our beloved childhood cartoon heros dancing and singing, flower picking and chatting when suddenly huge bombs fall from the sky. Tiny Smurfs scatter and run in vain from the whistling bombs before being felled by blast after blast waves of fiery explosions. The final scene is the most gut-wrenching as a scorched and tattered baby Smurf sobs uncontrollably surrounded by dead Smurfs. I think I just shed a tear. The video ends with a simple message;
"Don't let war affect the lives of our children"
Of course all this wasn't aired in America; hell no that would never pass the sensors. However for our cousins in Europe, the 25 second short left people shocked, most in approval and some in disbelief. And before you call it sacrilege, the animation was approved by the family of the Smurfs late creator, Peyo.
The short was intended as the keystone of a fund raising drive by Unicef's Belgian arm to raise money for the rehabilitation of former child soldiers in Burundi.
Well I've learned two things today. First - sometimes you have to shock in order to bring reality back to people who are oblivious or jaded because a war is so far away. And Two - who woulda' thunk it . . . the Smurfs are Belgian? Man, that explains A LOT.
UPDATE: The video will go live on the internet soon. Patience kiddies, patience.
um, i thought smurfs were belgian.
I have the video on my blog, Tran...