GENEROSITY 1988 Щедрость Wordless Latvian Animation

Based on the fairy tale “The Generous tree”
"The Generous Tree" is a picture book by American author Shel Silverstein, published in 1964. The parable about love and self-sacrifice became one of Silverstein's most famous works, has been reprinted many times and translated into dozens of languages.
The Tree (Russian translation "apple tree") loved a little boy who often played near it. It was happy when the boy was around and when the Tree could do something to help him. When the boy grew older and began to visit the tree less often, the tree became sad.
One day the young man grew up and said he needed money, so the Tree gave him all his apples to sell.
Many years later, a mature man said he needed a house to start a family, and then the Tree gave him all its branches to build a house.
After many more years, an older man said he needed a boat to go to a quiet place, and then the Tree offered him his trunk to make a boat.
At the end of the book, an old man comes to see the Tree, who has become a stump. The Tree says that it can't give him anything anymore, but the old man just needs to sit down to rest. He sits down on what is left of the Tree, and the Tree is happy about it.
The simple story told in the book has given rise to many interpretations, including religious ones. For example, there is an opinion that the self-sacrificing Tree is Jesus Christ, and this version is supported by the symbolism of the colours on the cover of the book (red and green, the main colours of Christmas). On the other hand, the role of the Tree can also be assessed negatively: since it fulfils the boy's every whim, it is sometimes seen as indulging his selfish tendencies. The book is also seen as a warning against the thoughtless use of natural resources: by taking all that the Tree provides, the boy deprives himself of the possibility of using its fruits in the future. Feminists, paying special attention to the fact that the Tree in the book is described in the feminine gender, see in this case a traditional image of an oppressed woman (mother to her son or wife to her husband). The author himself avoided any certainty in the interpretation of his book, claiming that it is "simply a relationship between two people: one gives and the other takes"[2].
In 1995, shortly after the book's 30th anniversary, First Things published a compilation entitled The Giving Tree: A Symposium, in which experts from various fields gave their interpretations of the work.
directed by Zenonas Steinis
written by Yu. Potsius, Zenonas Steinis
art director V. Ghilus