16/23

This is Michel Hazanavicius’ first animated film

In wartime, a poor lumberjack and his wife live in a large forest. One day, the wife finds and rescues a little girl, bringing about an irrevocable change in the lives of the couple and those whose paths the child will cross.

This is the best 2024 release I’ve seen so far this year, and we’re in the middle of December 2024

It tells a story that takes place in Poland during World War II, almost like a popular story. Most of the action takes place in a forest, which is so typical of the aforementioned folk tales, which is about a lumberjack couple who adopt a Jewish girl who was thrown off a deportation train passing through their forest.

On the technical side too, everything is perfectly done

She was disowned by her father to save her from certain death in Auschwitz. I won’t go into the details of the plot so you can see them for yourself, I will just add that the film comes to a deeply philosophical conclusion.

The visuals of the film are superbly done

The drawing style is just right, neither too detailed nor too rough, it mostly shows scenes in low lighting with predominant shades of grey, thus underlining the horrors of the most notorious war and mass destruction event in the history of mankind. And then the soundtrack, which goes with it, is sublime: the musical score, the sound effects, the narration and the voice acting (I saw the original version in French), all totally appropriate to present this gem of a film.

In conclusion, it is one of the best films that tackles the issue of racism and the Shoah in particular, both through its artistic process and through the story it wants to convey