O Human Being

I’ve been wondering since I was a kid why Christmas means killing thousands of trees just to throw them out in January. Every year, the same routine. They’re farmed for it, sure, but there’s something off about a tradition where nobody thinks to keep one alive, to let it survive and come back.

There’s a short film by Anomaly London called O Human Being that flips the whole thing. A man named Peter gets chosen by a Christmas tree family, and it goes bad immediately. They cut off his legs, dress him in red baubles, stick a gold star on his head. He’s the decoration.

It’s a simple reversal: humans become trees, trees become people. What happens to a tree now happens to a person. The cutting, the dressing, the discard—it all becomes visceral when you’re watching a body. Peter’s fear is the kind you recognize. His blood is the sap, his body is the trunk, and you can’t unsee it.

And the worst part is, nothing changes. Your tree is in the corner right now, dropping needles, dying slowly. You can touch its branches, whisper something kind, but the ending’s already decided. In a week it’ll be gone.