Recently, Bajie watched a touching film in advance, and "The Breadwinner", which was nominated for the 90th Academy Award for Best Animation, is about the Afghan version of the modern Mulan story.
The production team Cartoon Salon Studio has launched two feature films, "The Secret of the Book of Kells" and "Song of the Ocean", which are known for their gorgeous painting style, claiming that every frame can be beautiful enough to be a screensaver.
The Breadwinner also continues the consistently exquisite style of painting, with the magnificence of the desert and the post-war ruin, all of which come with the sand and wind of Afghanistan.
Although this is an animation, it is an animation for adults to see, and there is warmth in the cruelty, and the deep thinking caused by watching it is difficult to let go for a long time.
The protagonist, Pavana, lives with her parents, sister and brother in war-torn Afghanistan, which is also controlled by the Taliban. The war has done endless harm to the country, to the people living here, and there are many harsh religious traditions, such as that all women are not allowed to go out alone, that they need to be accompanied by men when they go out, and that they need to cover their bodies with robes.
Pavana's father lost a leg to the war and his eldest son, and had to take Pavana to the market to take on the work of reading for the family.
The family's life is difficult but still happy, and the father, who is a teacher, will tell a story to Pavana during his break, using stories to let Pavana remember the knowledge of the Silk Road and the contributions of their ancestors on this land...
However, their happy life is soon broken by the malicious entrapment of the Taliban, their father is arrested and imprisoned on trumped-up charges, Pavana is found on her way to prison with her mother, her mother is beaten, and there is little food and water left in the family...
Pavana tried to go out alone to buy food, but no one at the market sold anything to a little girl, no one wanted to cause trouble for herself, and even wanted to go out to fetch water and be chased away.
The father was arrested, the mother was seriously injured, the sister to be married could not go out, and there was a younger brother in the family who could not even speak. Forced into a desperate situation, Pavana cut off her long hair, changed her skirt, put on the clothes left by her brother, disguised herself as a little boy and went out to work to earn money, taking on the burden of supporting the family.
Finally, after changing her image, Pavana managed to buy the grain that the family desperately needed, and took over her father's previous job of reading for others at the market.
After becoming a boy, Pavana discovered that the whole world was different. She can go out wantonly, buy things and bargain with the boss, and set up stalls to do business. What a joyous and sad thing it was, just because she became a boy, she could have freedom that she had never had before, while the mother and sister at home may never know what freedom feels like because they are women.
On an outing, Pavana met Shoshiya, a primary school classmate dressed as a man like herself, and the two worked together, walking the streets of Afghanistan just to find opportunities to earn money.
Sometimes after a day's labor, you have to carefully avoid the mine-filled road to get home. The ideal in her heart gave the two people the courage to face reality, and Shosia, who also disguised herself as a little boy, worked many jobs at the same time, hoping to save enough money to leave this war-torn place and go to the beach to do business.
Pavana wants to save a lot of money to go to the prison to find her father and bring him home to the family.
Once when two people sat in a deserted war zone looking at pictures of beaches they had never been to, Shossia naively said, "Do you dare to believe that the sea is so blue?" "Even if there is a ruin in front of them, the two people still have a good vision for the future, and they remain optimistic and encourage each other."
War strikes again, and the mother writes a distress letter to her cousin who is out of town for the safety of her family, in exchange for marrying her eldest daughter in exchange for the family's opportunity to leave the city, and Pavana decides to see her father again before leaving here.
At the prison gate, Pavana meets the uncle who once looked for her to read letters, and Pavana drags the last straw of life, the uncle, begging him to help her see her father.
The mother and sister and brother were forcibly picked up by people sent by relatives from other places, and what awaited them was an unknown fate and the separation of their families...
In addition to the main storyline, the film is also interspersed with a fable told by Pavana, which corresponds to reality from time to time.
In the fable, the precious seeds of a little boy's village are snatched away by the Elephant King, and the little boy is determined to bring back the seeds that were snatched by the Elephant King, even if the whole village does not believe that he can do it.
The little boy in the fable is brave, kind, intelligent, and timid and afraid, like another Pavana, afraid of unknown difficulties but eventually perseveres;
The whole fable is full of beautiful colors, which contrast with the gray scenes of the main story. In fact, the little boy is like Pavana's heart, and he also retains hope for the future in the desperate reality. Even though the family gave up on the idea of finding her father, she was the only one who insisted, and eventually found hope in a desperate situation.
In the past, the animations we watched were all joyful and happy, but "The Breadwinner" is different, with depression in the warmth. Although it is a story about children, it reflects a broken adult world.
In an interview with director Nora Tomei and producer Angelina Jolie, they were asked, "What do you want girls or all the little kids to get out of this movie?" The two gave different answers:
The director's answer is: this film is not to convey some kind of information, but to let them see the film, substitute their own experience, let them resonate; the characters of this film are not black and white, everyone's behavior is for a reason, it can make different people discuss the film from all angles;
Angelina Jolie, who is a producer, said: I hope that through this film, everyone can cherish their education, and hope that this film will awaken their awareness of fighting for human rights for young people.
Angelina Jolie first went to Cambodia in 2000 to see the living conditions of refugees, which has opened up another way of life for her.
Since then, she has traveled countless times to Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Africa, Cambodia and other areas that are deeply mired in war or riots, and directed the film "Indestructible", which tells the story of American soldiers after World War II, hoping to record in her own way what happened here and achieve the purpose of reminding the world.
After the war has occurred, the impact on people is unpredictable, even if the war has ended, it still leaves people with endless pain and scars that are difficult to heal.
In the land we live together, there are still war-torn people, and freedom may now be out of reach for them, but they still have a desire for freedom and a yearning for beauty in their hearts.
"The Breadwinner" allows everyone who has seen it to feel the beauty of life, convey warmth and strength, and the bitter shell actually contains a piece of sugar, so that you can feel a little warmth in the broken.
After watching this film, Bajie gave it Tonway to everyone. "The Breadwinner" will be released on January 11, and I hope that after watching this film, it will bring you enlightenment of life and courage to move forward.