40/40

This is Michel Hazanavicius’s first animated film

In times torn by war, a poor lumberjack and his wife live in a large forest. One day, the woman finds and saves a little girl, causing an irreversible change in the lives of the couple and the people whose paths cross.

It tells a story that happened in Poland during World War II, like a popular fairy tale

This is definitely the best premiere of 2024 that I have seen this year, and we are in mid-December 2024. Most of the plot takes place in the forest, typical of the aforementioned popular stories, telling about a pair of lumberjacks who adopt a Jewish girl thrown out of a deportation train passing through their forest.

Also from the technical side, everything is done perfectly

Her father abandoned her to save her from certain death in Auschwitz. I will not go into details of the plot, so that you can see for yourself, I will only add that the film will have a deeply philosophical ending.

The visual side of the film is brilliantly designed

The art style is just right, not too detailed and not too rough, mostly depicting low light scenes with dominant shades of grey, emphasizing the horrors and mass destruction of the most infamous war in human history. And then there’s the wonderful soundtrack: the soundtrack, sound effects, narration and voice acting (I saw the original version in French) are all perfect for showcasing this gem of a film.

All in all, this is one of the best films to deal with the topic of racism, and especially the artistic process of the series and the story it wants to tell