Two things stuck when I finally sat down to the exceptional La jetée:

First, the method of telling this story is ingenious (besides being admirably efficient). The use of still frames juxtaposed with fluid audio accentuates the jerkiness of the visuals. I found it delightfully clever that a film about time-travel is essentially forcing us to internalize the passage of time with the virtual jump-cuts separating each still and the freezing of time while we soak in the information presented (much the same as we do with family photo albums).

Secondly, what a fantastic story. Of course, I love 12 Monkeys, the most well-known adaptation of this short film, but it wasn't until now that it occurred to me another possible theme below the solid sci-fi core: Are we doomed by our memories or saved by them? When all hope seems lost, is the human ability to remember better times our final defense against insanity, or is that same ability to taunt ourselves with unreachable moments past the last, most frustrating straw?