Evidence (1995) User Reviews

Food for thought (contains spoiler)

[miguel-10 · 7/10 · 6 August 2002]

When I saw the faces of the children in this short film my first impression was to wonder what was keeping them so quiet, so fix in the camera, and especially, so absent and serious. So "un-child". Then, I've got a feeling of guilt and I did not know why; the faces were telling me "Why you adults are behaving like this?" "We do not understand". The surprise came in the end when we get to know that these children are just watching TV. So, my impressions were not so wrong after all! This short will make you think twice before letting your children alone in front of the TV.

Excellent Short

[blazenwo · 8/10 · 13 April 2006]

A very well done short film which touches on the relationship between television and young children. As I stared at them, I also realized that I was doing the very same thing they were, staring blankly at the screen. In case you were wondering, the children were watching "Dumbo" on the screen.

Very experimental and conceptual, I quite enjoyed it. As always, Phillip Glass delivers a well done soundtrack to accompany it.

This is considered a rare short to find, however Fabrica (which had Godfrey Reggio serving as director of when this short was made) has it freely available for download on their website.

You'll see it for the music, but you'll remember the eyes...

[kathleen-1 · 9/10 · 15 October 2001]

This is an incredible film in which you see the faces of completely mesmerized children. Their eyes are looking straight into the camera and have expressions that sometimes look horrified, sometimes angry or sad, but usually just plain intense.

At the end you learn that what you've been seeing is children who are watching television. Once you see this film, you will never let your kids watch TV again!

It's great... But where can it be found?

[msst895 · 10/10 · 3 May 2005]

I have a somewhat vague recollection of this short film from many years ago, and it still sticks in my mind. As you watch it, you can't figure out what's going on. You think these kids are mentally disturbed. Your mind goes through all sorts of things trying to figure out where it's going. When you finally realize what those kids are up to, it gives you an incredible "WOW!" feeling.

I really would like to acquire a copy of this film. Does anybody know where myself and other can find it? Either in VHS or DVD format It really should be required watching for any parent of small children. It's amazing to me so many parents are ignorant to the fact that TV (not to mention computers and video games) are quite mind-numbing for kids. Many people ASSUME that these things are benign and in some cases educational, but most of the time they are not used for that at all. Even so called "educational programming" doesn't live up to the name, and tends to be primarily entertainment in how it is used.

I wish I had a copy of this film to share with friends and family because it does a really good job of convincing people and making them think.

Children looking at us?

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 29 April 2016]

Or are they really? Evidence is a 7.5-minute live action short film from over 20 years ago. We see a couple children staring at the camera and they seem really fascinated with what they are seeing. But what is it? Writer and director here is Godfrey Reggio and this is neither one of his earliest or most recent films. The good thing is that nobody talks in here, we just hear music, so you won't need subtitles, no matter where you're from to watch and enjoy this. But can you really enjoy it? I dare say no. I found it okay from the atmospheric perspective, but only for 5 minutes max and it doesn't help either that the final plot twist, really the only interesting thing about this movie, is already given away in the film's IMDb summary. I give "Evidence" a thumbs down. Not impressed.