An euphemism for war. It seems that the art of war has sort of been lost over time. Nowadays, it's about dropping smart bombs on everything in sight, and flying high to avoid any casualities.

War is evil, dirty and dangerous. Calling it a conflict just doesn't do any justice to it.

Conflict is an anarchist band from the UK. They inspire many to engage in direct action against all forms of oppression and frequently induce riots at live shows. Often dozens of people are arrested at gigs. They have been known to hand out maps of the local area with targets shown (such as mcdonalds). Their lead singer since the mid eighties has been Steve Ignorant of Crass. Their gigs are usually very cheap and are usually for a cause, such as the ALF. Their music is downloadable for free off their website, including the song A Message to Who which is the work of a genius.

The battle of the matches

"Conflict" is a title of an animated short film.

Regrettably I have very little actual details on this movie... IMDb isn't too helpful when looking for really obscure films.

I think it was in Russian (or maybe not; I think the movie opening titles were in Cyrillic! It's been some time since I've seen the movie...) or other slavic language. (There's a Croatian movie called "Konflikt (1972)" by Kresimir Golik in the database, and it has very little details, so I don't know if that's the one... I'll tell if I find more information.)

But the numeric details aren't what matters, or the language (because the animation has no spoken words, only random human sounds)...

This is possibly the coolest anti-war movie I've ever seen! My father, who teaches religion, used to show this in school.

The plot

The movie opens with a picture of a match box. Some sounds of fighting can be heard from inside; then, the box opens and all matches run out. There are two kinds of matches; Ones with green head and ones with yellow head. They argue (like people), and both "ethnic groups" form a nation of their own.

A border line is made of small match bits. Two border guards (from both side of the border) are posted on the border; They march back and forth, with "rifles" on their shoulder.

However, the rhythmic marching makes the border line matches jump a bit, and one of those rolls to the other side. The two border guards start to argue a lot where that match bit should go, starting a border dispute!

...and the border dispute soon develops into a full scale war. We see warring matches, their vehicles that look like small matchboxes...

Then, the matches of the other side of the border gather around a rectangular hole in the ground. Something is rising from it, with rumble and flickering red light telling that it's probably something bad.

A huge match box flies up from the "silo".

The match box flies to the other side of the border; all matches there are absolutely terrified and try to run away screaming.

In vain.

The match box swoops over the matches, and its scratch pad ignites a couple of them.

The fire spreads quickly among the matches.

The matches across the border are very very joyous and cheer. But soon, they realize that they too are in danger, and try to retreat.

That, too, is hopeless.

There are pictures of burning matches, complete with sad, dramatic music...

...and in the final scene, we see hundreds and hundreds of completely burnt matches - some still standing, many fallen on ground and broken.

(...in death... they're all of same color...)

::WWWWolf cries::

This, if anything, has made me think that nuclear weapons and all other means of mass destruction are a very bad thing. =/

Con"flict n. [L. conflictus a striking together, fr. confligere, -flictum, to strike together, to fight: cf. F. conflit, formerly also conflict. See Conflict, v.]

1.

A striking or dashing together; violent collision; as, a conflict of elements or waves.

2.

A strife for the mastery; hostile contest; battle; struggle; fighting.

As soon as he [Atterbury] was himself again, he became eager for action and conflict.
Macaulay.

An irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces.
W. H. Seward.

Conflict of laws, that branch of jurisprudence which deals with individual litigation claimed to be subject to the conflicting laws of two or more states or nations; -- often used as synonymous with Private international law.

Syn. -- Contest; collision; struggle; combat; strife; contention; battle; fight; encounter. See Contest.

 

© Webster 1913.


Con*flict" v. i. [imp. & p. p. Conflicted; p. pr. & vb. n. Conflicting.] [L. conflictus, p.p. of confligere to conflict (cf. conflictare); con- + fligere to strike; cf. Gr. fli`bein, qli`bein, to press, L. flagrum whip.]

1.

To strike or dash together; to meet in violent collision; to collide.

Shak.

Fire and water conflicting together.
Bacon.

2.

To maintain a conflict; to contend; to engage in strife or opposition; to struggle.

A man would be content to . . . conflict with great difficulties, in hopes of a mighty reward.
Abp. Tillotson.

3.

To be in opposition; to be contradictory.

The laws of the United States and of the individual States may, in some cases, conflict with each other.
Wheaton.

Syn. -- To fight; contend; contest; resist; struggle; combat; strive; battle.

 

© Webster 1913.

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