The Nymph: Greenpeace's Enchanting and Heartbreaking Eco-Fable

If you like an extended visual metaphor, then you will love The Nymph, written and directed by Vanessa Stachel at Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg, one of the internationally most acclaimed film and media schools.  Together with a team of producers, editors, VFX creators – basically a whole film crew made up of fellow students, she has created a branded short for Greenpeace Germany – and a tale of love and woe it is indeed.

The story is deceptively simple.  A young knight, defeated and injured, flees the battlefield.  Nicholas (played with equal charm and menace by Jacob Haw-Wells) finds himself by a beautiful pool in secluded woodland.  There he encounters the nymph Ilo (played subtly by Peter Todd, who also narrates the story) who heals his wounds.  Yet this healing comes at a price – part of the natural world around them dies with this act of generosity.  Sir Nicholas can rejoin the fight and claim victory. Yet he returns to his healer and a friendship, then a romance blossoms. 

Combining animation and live action is always something of a risk, but this short film segues beautifully between the two.  The direction is absolutely spot on throughout and the leads are both compelling and charming (well, one is remarkably like a Disney prince!).  The fact that this is, essentially, a student film is astonishing - this is very high-quality film-making.

So, you can probably see where this is going in terms of the visual metaphor - it's about the environment, conservation and sustainability.  As the relationship between human and nymph (well, nature effectively) develops, Sir Nicholas begins to demand more and ore from Ilo (the name means joy in both Finnish and Igbo!).  Before long the natural world is laid waste as Nicholas’ demands stretch Ilo to his very limits.  Can Nicholas see sense before his Ilo and his world are destroyed forever?  You will have to watch this short film to find out, but as a fitting end to this particular fairy tale, there is a message directed at us saying “Nature deserves a happily ever after. It’s up to us.”  Of course, Nicholas has been us from the very beginning, taking what we want when we want from the natural world – and Ilo represents nature.  The message – unless we work together, disaster is inevitable.   And although there is some optimism at the end of this remarkable short film, what a price tag it has come with…