The short film Ornamental Bird, led by Craig Lief, unwinds around the effects of objectification and the despair emanating from being looked at yet never seen.
The narrative is about a young widow, Eva, portrayed by actor Ana K. Cruz, who lives alone in a well-known Hollywood Hills villa. Throughout the movie, the viewer is guided by a voice-over narration in which Eva talks to her late spouse, Louis, in a letter.
The narration takes the viewers through her sorrow, loneliness, and frustration, delivering a detailed view into her heart and mind.
The movie is rich with symbolism, and one of its most fascinating features is two stuffed birds, a crow, and a peacock, which are paramount to the plot.
Thus, the preserved birds reflect Eva’s experience of being objectified, feeling sunken, dwindling to their shells, and serving the goal of mere decoration.
These birds are a metaphor for the internal and external life of Eva, who has lived confined to the attitudes and ideas of those around her, who have failed to see her depth, something she is now silently revolting against, trying to take issues into her own hands.
‘Ornamental Bird’ asks a problematic question—what does it do to an individual to feel unseen, impotent, useless, or, in Eva’s own words, “dead inside”? It reminds us to look under the surface, above appearances, as colorful and shiny as they may seem, and touches upon our seeking for glory and the need to be seen for who we indeed are.
