The Breadwinner
Cert: 12A / 93 mins / Dir. Nora Twomey / Trailer
After hearing a glowing review of Nora Twomey's The Breadwinner on the BBC's flagship film programme, I was slightly disheartened to take my seat in West India Quay's screen 3 in the company of only five other people*1. Then again, this was a Saturday morning, and one suspects that an animated film about a young girl trying to support her fractured family while living under Taliban rule doesn't fall quite into the same demographic as Peter Rabbit*2.
Based on the book by Deborah Ellis, The Breadwinner is set against the backdrop of modern day Kabul. We meet a young girl, Parvana (voiced by Saara Chaudry), who lives with her elder sister Soraya (Shaista Latif), mother Fattema (Laara Sadiq) father Nurullah (Ali Badshah) and toddler brother Zaki. When Nurullah is arrested and imprisoned on no apparent charge, Parvana has to find a way to support the rest of her family, a task made more difficult by the locally imposed law that women are not allowed to be seen in public unless accompanied by a male relative. Finding a way around this, Parvana begins to plot a way to visit her father and bargain for his freedom, whilst relating an ongoing folk tale to her friends and family, which takes on shape as the film progresses.
The Breadwinner is about family, friendship, storytelling and the value of storytelling. More than animation, it's visual poetry.
The interspersed 'parable' segments are presented as collage-animation, while the hand-drawn main narrative feels like a simplified version of classic Disney, but with backgrounds of gorgeous texture and lighting. The character representations themselves are almost minimalist, but each line is precisely where it's meant to be. Treading with a sense of claustrophobic urgency, the 'girl-disguised-as-a-boy' plot device is a well worn trope that's telegraphed accordingly, but presented without fanfare or self-congratulation.
The story itself constantly borders on absolute tragedy, and I honestly wasn't sure which of the possible/probable endings we were headed toward (although the conclusion is satisfyingly open-ended). As fantastic as The Breadwinner is, I'm not entirely sure who it's for. The intended audience is ostensibly 'everyone', but the film is too heavy for entertainment purposes alone and perhaps too stylised to be a worthy lesson which Guardian-reading parents will sit their four year-old down in front of*3. And yet, it works despite everything against it. Which is very much the point.
Stories guide us. They inspire, they warn and they give us something to believe. And yes, sometimes stories provide a welcome filter and distraction when the world around us makes no sense.
The Breadwinner does all of these things.
It's pretty outstanding.
I'm told it's tonally akin to Studio Ghibli's output, although I'm embarrassed to say that I wouldn't know that since I haven't seen any.
If you can, yes.
Not really a film for repeat viewing, this will nonetheless be a one to have on the shelf for when the mood takes you.
Pass; couldn't say.
Not necessarily, but I'm sure we'll discuss the hell out of it.
There isn't.
Level 2: This film features the voice of Noorin Gulamgaus, who was in the 2014 Robocop remake, which also starred Sam 'Windu' Jackson and Michael Kenneth 'was going to play Paul Bettany's role in Solo until they switched the character out because they didn't have time to animate it' Williams.
*1 Although between the DBox screening of the financially troubled Solo and the select appeal of Ismael's Ghosts, this was a day for low attendances all round. [ BACK ]
*2 Even if one of those depicts a life under cultural brutalism while the other practically embodies it... [ BACK ]
*3 And I say this as someone who reads The Guardian, but still. [ BACK ]
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