If you are an admirer of art and Disney movies, you've probably seen "Destino", an animated short film created by a surrealist artist and the writer of the first Disney movies. If you haven't already seen it, there's a story behind this silent film of mortality, time, and love.
Salvador DalĂ, a master of surrealism (even in his time), and Walt Disney collaborated in 1945 and completed parts of the short film, but money was tight for Disney productions and was completely abandoned. Sketches remained but, like the project, were forgotten. Given the circumstance there was enough money, the project would most likely have looked the same way it does today, thanks to the sketches and bits of film that were left behind and found by Disney's nephew, Roy E. Disney. Roy finished the project with the help of new computer and animation technology in 2003.
"Destino", meaning "destiny" in Spanish, begins with Dahlia approaching a sculpture of a man with a large clock at his side. The man and clock are intended to represent Chronos - the personification of time itself. Throughout the movie, Dahlia is surrounded by objects that melt or break, meaning that she does not have luck in finding someone to share her life. She is also seen in different scenes dancing through several of Salvador DalĂ's paintings, which convey false hope. DalĂ's paintings, as noted before, are surrealistic; dreamlike and impractical.
Chronos is shown a few minutes into the film, and is held back by a clock, evident that he cannot escape time because he possesses it. The awareness and symbolism of time affects the life of Chronos, which then takes a toll on Dahlia. When he sees Dahlia, large walls erupt between them, forcing the two further apart. Dahlia's mortality and Chronos' immortality limits their chances drastically for ever being together. In the last minutes of the film, Dahlia becomes what appears to be a bell, and fixes herself into the hole of heart in the sculpture which was shown in the beginning of the film. Chronos again takes the body of the sculpture, then, therein being that he and Dahlia will be apart of each other eternally.
Here's the video if you haven't seen it or wish to again! (Duration: 6 minutes 32 seconds)