Boy and the World (2014) Brasil

We live gloriously, but we won't let the world.

Original title:

O Menina e o Mundo (Portuguese)

Genre:

Animation (2D), Adventure, Family.

Length:

Approximately 6-minute read.


Review:
     The film was nominated at the 88th American Academy Awards for best animated feature and lost to 'Inside Out', but won one at Annie Awards out of three nominees. Originally from Brasil, a 80 minutes long, I mean short film, excluding the opening and end credits which makes it even shorter. The tale was told with the beautiful visuals and music, without any dialogues to reach the audience making no complication. Because it was not just an entertainer, but a message bearer.

     The animation type was simple, yet awesome. All the drawings were done by the director himself. Totally colourful crayons sketches. It was supposed to be a documentary, but later became a feature film. The story about a boy who lives with his parents in the rural growing up loving all the wonders of the nature. He observes the changing world as his father bids a goodbye to him to look for a better job in the city, but never returned. So the curious little kid who loves his father very much takes us an adventure when industrial revolution taking place. The rest of the film tells whether he finds what he's looking for.

     There were many animations got released in the same year, but this film got the Oscars nod because of the strong message. Especially in the present world this kind of film brings more awareness to the people. It focused the theme man destroying the beautiful world for the profit and dumping the waste everywhere. I am sure you might have seen several documentary films on this topic, but this one was different which was somewhat close to 'Earth 2100'. Although it talks about the past and present than the distant future.

     The pollution was one of the biggest concerns today and nobody cares to curb it. The industrial revolution is not defining our progressive, but threatening to our future generation. Besides the poors are directly affected by the loss of the employment. The human development in on the right direction, but the path we have chosen was not. So by now you know it is not for just the kids. The film offers a lot for adults to learn from it than the children. But surely a film to them both watch together and have a good time.

     At one point, for a quick, a few real clips were shown to let us know what the real world looks like after such thing happened as it was shown in the film. I loved the comparison between the city and the rural, from lifestyle, fading culture to everything. The real heartbreaking scene is when the boy revisits his old place to learn it is destroyed. Surely we all have similar kind of experience in our life about the place we had admired some time ago is now completely ruined.

     It might have not won the Oscar or not popular as the one won, but definitely not ignorable film. All the other four nominees stood behind creativity and entertainment, but this one was with dual intention and it succeeded. It wins our heart more than any prestigious awards in the world, yet I agree the awards leads to the wider recognisation. So I urge everybody to watch it sooner or later, but never to miss it. It is not your Disney, Pixer or Ghibli films, but surely you would enjoy it. I don't know the director, but I think if he resumes with the same intensity for the future projects, he would definitely become the South American Tomm Moore with his unique animation and storytelling.



Suitable for:
Tween, Teen, Adult, All


Final verdict:
Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent


Similar movies:
Zarafa, The Day of the Crows, The Secret of Kells, Ernest & Celestine, A Turtle's Tale.


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