The Breadwinner
(Canada/Ireland/Luxembourg, 93 min.)
Dir. Nora Twomey, Writ. Anita Doron
Starring: Saara Chaudry, Soma Chhaya, Laara Sadiq, Shaista
Latif, Ali Badshah
It’s so exciting to see The
Breadwinner open on the heels of Window Horses. 2017 is a great year for putting Canadian feature animation on the
map. Like the poetic Persian epiphany of Rosie Ming in Ann Marie Fleming’s
animated work of art, The Breadwinner
is a visually striking fable with a grand international scope that tackles complex
subjects of family, identity, and belonging.
Each feature brings its unique visual palette to stand apart from the world of CGI extravaganzas. (And, unlike most Disney films, neither takes children’s intelligence for granted.) This international co-production has Irish director Nora Twomey at the helm, a formidable talent behind the Oscar nominees Song of the Sea and The Secret of Kells, and adapts the acclaimed children’s novel by Ontario author Deborah Ellis. With a sweeping canvas and beautiful visual design, plus executive producer credits for Angelina Jolie and Jehane Noujaim (The Square), this ambitious animated film is a lovely production fit for the whole family.
The Breadwinner
whisks audiences to the honey golden streets of Taliban-controlled Kabul,
Afghanistan shortly before 9/11. The film sees Afghanistan at a crossroads
through the eyes of 11-year-old girl Parvana (voiced by Saara Chaudry), whose
intelligence, imagination, and resilience defy the patriarchal regime unsettling
the nation. Parvana becomes the main provider for her family when the Taliban
arrests her beloved father for teaching his daughters how to read. The young
girl plays by the Taliban’s virulent dismissive attitude towards women by
disguising herself as a boy to support her family.
Yentl for
children, The Breadwinner is not.
Parvana doesn’t play dress-up to find herself embroiled in a love triangle.
Instead, she quickly sees how shorter hair and a different set of clothes
afford a sense of freedom to which girls like her are denied access by the
Taliban. The Breadwinner puts Parvana
on an adventure to free her father while negotiating the social structures of
her community, dodging misogynistic insurgents, and finding threads of common humanity
that unfurl from the most unexpected allies. The Breadwinner smartly teaches young audiences about human rights
issues and the status of women in Taliban-controlled Kabul without pandering or
“othering” the characters in this tale made by outsiders to the Afghan
community. It’s respectful and sensitive, particularly in the voice casting and
score by Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna, which draws upon the contributions of
Afghan musicians and vocalists.
The star of the film, however, is the animation. Twomey
offers a rich canvas that uses two distinct aesthetics with scenes in Kabul
sketched in realistic slice-of-life renderings—more classical composition with
subdued palettes—while a second design takes place in the world of Parvana’s
imagination. These scenes offer fantastic paper cut-outs that create visual
expressions of a story Parvana tells about an Elephant King and a young child
on a quest akin to the young heroine’s journey. The images of the Elephant King
fable are more akin to the folkloric designs of Song of the Sea and The
Secret of Kells that one might expect from Twomey’s body of work.
The contrast between reality and fantasy in the two
aesthetics illustrates The Breadwinner’s
effort to respect the conditions for women in Afghanistan while also making a
story that is accessible to children. These two worlds converge in the film’s
climax as the breathtaking music reaches its crescendo and war breaks out in
Afghanistan, putting Parvana’s courage to the test and making her a hero for
viewers young and old. The Breadwinner
is an enchanting and inspiring real-world fable.
The Breadwinner opens in theatres November 24.
