A deaf boy struggles with communication when not using his hearing aid but experiences painful feedback and distortion when using it, leaving him feeling constantly cut off from the life of others. A trip to the zoo sees him inspired by the majesty of the lions and he decides that he will live as one of them – sleeping on top of a wardrobe, eating without using his hands and so on.
There is a certain beauty to this film because throughout the film the viewer feels the separation of the character from his family and from the world of the others who can hear. This transitions nicely into the feeling the boy has when he experiences something where he makes a connection and from there the struggle between the two is short but clear. All of this is nicely done but the problem I had was that the ending was a case of "that happened" rather than having any meaning or substance to it. This was a shame and it was such a strong and clear ending that I wondered why it felt like it was just a thing that occurred whereas the rest of the film had been effective in talking across themes and lines.
The animation is good though and I very much liked the sound design – OK it was tough at the start but it very much put me in the mind of the character to have the muffled dialogue or the howl of the hearing aid. Generally it is a very nice piece that appears to warn against escapism and isolation, but for all that I liked, I really did wish that the ending had more meat on the bone (sorry, bad choice of words).
