44/15
In times of war, a poor lumberjack and his wife live in a large forest. One day, the woman finds and rescues a little girl, bringing about an irreversible change in the couple’s life and in the lives of those who cross the child’s path. This is Michael Hassanavicius’ first animated film. This is the best 2024 release I’ve seen so far this year and we’re in mid-December 2024. We’re halfway through. It tells a story set in Poland during World War II, like a folk tale. Much of the plot takes place in a forest, typical of the aforementioned folk tales, and revolves around a couple of lumberjacks who adopt a Jewish girl thrown from a deportation train through the forest. She was thrown out by her father to save her from certain death in Auschwitz. I won’t go into too much detail about the plot, you can see for yourself, I would like to add that the film reaches a profound philosophical conclusion. On the technical side, everything is done perfectly. The scenes in the film are remarkably done. The drawing style is perfect, not overly detailed or harsh, showing mostly poorly lit scenes, thus emphasizing the horrors and mass extermination of the most infamous war in the history of humanity. And then there is the sublime soundtrack: the soundtrack, the sound effects, the narration and the dubbing (I watched the original French version), all perfectly suited to present this gem of a film. In conclusion, it is one of the best films regarding the theme of racism and the Shoah in particular, in terms of artistic treatment and the story it aims to tell.