"Dream Quest" won the Oscar for Best Feature Animation, which is indeed the expectation of the public.
But in 2017, there was a mysterious cartoon that, although it only received an Oscar nomination, was no worse than "Dream Quest".
This is known as the "Afghan version of Mulan"——
Breadwinner
The Breadwinner
"The Breadwinner" is another Irish animation masterpiece after "Song of the Sea".
In addition to winning one of the highest honors in the field of animation, the film was nominated for the 90th Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and the 75th Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature!
Douban scored 8.2, an animated adaptation of the Canadian best-selling novel of the same name by Deborah Iris.
Directed by Irish female director Nora Tomei and with Angelina Jolie as producer, the work of the two goddesses doesn't know if it will earn enough tears for you.
It is better to be a prosperous dog than to mess with the world.
If there had been no war, I believe no one would have said this.
"The Breadwinner," a cartoon with Muslim elements, focuses on war-torn Afghanistan.
In Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, women are not allowed to take to the streets, buy any goods, or communicate with outsiders. The film begins in this atmosphere.
A little girl named Parwana, just 11 years old.
She lives with her mom and dad, sister and brother in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
Kabul is the most war-torn region in Afghanistan and the most tightly controlled by the Taliban.
Parwana's father lost a leg in the war, and in order to support his family, his father needed Parwana's help every day to read and write letters in the market, selling small things to earn money.
Every day, my father would tell Parwana about the ancient history and fascinating legends of Afghanistan when there were no guests.
Parwana was deeply moved by the legendary figures, and she vowed to shine as bravely and mercifully as the legendary characters.
One day, his erudite father was telling a story to Parwana when two Taliban members who were wandering around the market were eyeing them.
Two Taliban elements deliberately embarrassed Parwana's father and daughter on the pretext that the girls could not appear in public.
The thin Taliban got into an argument with Parwana's father and threatened to kill him.
Dissuaded by his companions, the thin Taliban temporarily left the market, but indignant, he prepared to take revenge on Parwana's family.
After assembling a group of people, the skinny Taliban charged Parwana's father with banned books and teaching women to read, and threw Parwana's father into prison.
Without her father, the family had no income, and Parwana's family was in crisis.
In order to find their father, Parwana and her mother walked toward the prison with a picture of her father.
Halfway through, they met the Taliban patrols.
The mother was beaten up, and even the father's picture was torn to pieces by the Taliban.
The idea of respect for women and children is almost non-existent in Afghanistan, where two strong uncles were standing nearby when Parwana's mother was beaten by soldiers, but they turned a blind eye to it all.
Religion has given the Taliban terrible power, and in the face of this power, the men who believe in Allah are crazy and indifferent and no longer human.
Dragging her mother, who was badly injured, Parwana returned home.
The family soon lost their cooking, but as a girl, Parwana couldn't buy anything, not even drinking water.
Dad was taken away, Mom was beaten and seriously injured, the sister to be married could not go out, and the brother was just a little doll who could just talk.
For the survival of the whole family, on a bright moonlit night, Parwana cut off her long hair, put on the clothes of a boy, and put on a white hat, and from this moment on, she became the breadwinner.
The first time she went to the market as a boy to buy something, Parwana seemed to be a noncommittal, and her mother was afraid at home.
But after the food was bought smoothly, everything became easy.
Nothing had changed, only she had become a "little boy", but her world had changed.
Parwana began working to earn money, and at this time, she also met her former classmate, Shosia.
Shosia is now also dressed as a man, with someone to accompany her, and Parwana feels that the future seems to be brighter.
With Shohia's help, Parwana begins bribing the prison guards in the hope of seeing her father.
But who knows, my father did not see him, but he was severely beaten.
The mother, seeing that the situation was getting worse, decided to ask her distant relatives for help.
But the precondition for relatives to help their family escape the war zone was to marry Parwana's eldest sister to his younger son.
In order to get away from here, her mother accepted all this, but Parwana insisted on finding her father.
Soon, the famous war began, and relatives hurried to Parvana's house to take them all away.
But at this time, Parwana had not returned on her way to find her father.
The film's director, Tomei, said in a previous interview:
"The sense of responsibility that Afghan children have for their families and friends is completely different from our culture based on individualism. The story was new to me, but it was common in that environment. My task, or my biggest challenge, is to make this special story ordinary in the movie. ＂
It is this special and ordinary story that makes many of us cry after watching it.
Impatient relatives carry Parwana's little brother to the car, and the mother and sister are forced to follow, while on the other side of the camera, Parwana is outside the prison begging the prison people to release her father.
Without such a film, it is difficult for us to imagine that there is such a tearful place on this beautiful planet.
Everyone says that life is precious, but in Afghanistan, many people die like grass.
The cartoon ends with an open-ended ending, with Mom using her life's efforts to get rid of relatives, because Parwana remains in town and we can't leave her behind.
Parvana finally impressed a Taliban and rescued her father.
On the vast Gobi Desert, the family was finally reunited.
But in the relentless Afghan war, we don't know what awaits their family!
Like "Song of the Sea", the feature-length animation "The Breadwinner" is also interspersed with fairy tale-themed side lines.
In the play, all of Parvana's inner activities are expressed in this fairy tale.
In the story, a boy who does not know the height of the sky decides to save the village and chooses to go alone to fight the elephant monster who stole the food. Although on the way, a boy encounters the help of a mysterious mother-in-law, but he is still afraid of what follows behind him.
In real life, Parwana dresses up as a man, and in the case of being found and taken away at any time, the panic and fear in her heart can be imagined.
Therefore, the fear of the little boy in the story is the fear in Pavana's heart. This kind of expression is really advanced.
At the end of the film, there is a monologue by Parvana:
In our hometown, talent is the most priceless treasure. It makes more sense than to raise the volume, after all, it is rain that moisturizes the flowers to grow, not thunder.
After reading this passage, I don't know how you will feel?
Compared to other big productions in the anime nominations, "The Breadwinner" is a niche art film.
Although it didn't win the Oscar for Best Feature Animation, it's still the one I want to recommend to you the most at this year's Oscars.
This article was first published in the public account of belly black movies: fhmovie.