The Boy and the World

The boy is sadden when his father leaves on the train to find work in the big city. He goes off into the big world in search for his father.

This is a Brazilian animation nominated for an Oscar in 2015. The animation style is colorful stick figures. It has a very unique look. It doubles down by having limited rudimentary dialogue done in gibberish. I do wonder if this would function better as a short, maybe half hour. The theme does get deeper as it delves into globalization and modernization. It's a slow turn into this darker material that is most disconcerting. There is a reveal at the end about the boy and the father which is probably confused especially without dialogue. It could have been done straight forward.

Decades behind a computer, toiling and tinkering with the programming and software has given us the near-photographic realism of CGI animation. The culmination of which is the film Inside Out (2015) which won the Best Animated Feature Oscar this past year. Yet as anyone who truly loves animation will know, it's not about who has the most detailed techniques or the most expensive equipment. With great ideas and simple yet sublime stories, something as lo-fi as Boy and the World can move its audience to the core.

The story begins with a young boy (Garcia) who lives in a rural abode near the jungle. His father (Campos), a mustached man sporting a straw hat and a flute, grabs a suitcase and heads to the city. the boy is heartbroken by his father's sudden absence and decides to head to the city to find him. On his odyssey he meets a host of colorful characters and comes face to face with the seductiveness, absurdity and danger of modern life.

The animation is reminiscent of the work of Don Hertzfeldt. Everything is cobbled together with simple geometric shapes and seemingly done in charcoal and crayon. Yet unlike Hertzfeldt's work there isn't a sense of ruing existential doom; at its heart it is innately humanistic. Its simplicity and kaleidoscopic vision immediately strikes you with a sense of childlike wonder and as things in the story become more complex it washes over you in a flood of emotion and awe. The color palette in this film is so effective in rendering the wonder of the jungle, the bustling of the city and the rainbow-tinged weaving's of the Mestizo people that parade down the streets.

It's important to note that the movie is largely non-verbal. What is uttered is dubbed in backward Portuguese and the only guiding light you're given are the visuals and the soundtrack. And what a neat soundtrack it is! Grupo Experimental de Musica (GEM), Emicida, Nana Vasconcelos and the Bushdancers all somewhat obscure Brazilian bands that help the story gently flow through you. Not since the early work of Hayao Miyazaki has there been a more genuine work of youthful artistic expression and such a full spectrum of unfettered emotion.

A movie so deceptively simple and yet so emotionally complex comes around only once every few years, and an animation of this caliber comes round perhaps once in a generation. Some may not be hard won by it's environmental overtones and be contrarian to its thoughts on consumerism yet there's no denying that a story this human deserves attention and praise. Blink and you'll miss this little gem but if you can find it in theaters or (hopefully soon) on Netflix, I highly recommend it.

Boy & The World is a film about a young boy who goes on a journey to find his father in the big city. Along the way, he sees many things, and meets many people. This is the most basic description of what I consider to be one of the best animated films ever made. Let's dig in.

First of all, for a film marketed towards children, it can be quite challenging in different ways. One way is in what it is as a film. The fact that it has absolutely no dialogue and is driven by music and visuals alone is very daring. Another way is in some of the subjects it tackles. This includes things such as the negative influence of industry, the oppression of art and creativity, and the underwhelming reality of adulthood.

I mentioned that the film ditches all talking, instead going for visual and musical storytelling. So does it achieve this goal? Yes. Oh my god yes. Every image that this film throws at you is absolutely gorgeous and full of things to look at. The music is absolutely beautiful, and I'm not lying when I say that I found myself getting chills well an often due to the music. These two factors are what propels the movie and turns it into the great experience it is.

Now let's talk about the overall effect. It was unbelievably effective for me. This is the only film that ever made me weep. I urge any movie fan, or any fan of animated films, to watch this. It is a brilliant experience, and it touches on every emotion I can think of. Happiness, sadness, humor, love, and many more that aren't coming to mind. Go. GO. WATCH IT NOW.

This is not a typical animated film. It has a unique visual and narrative style to represent ideas in an abstract way. Symbols of modern civilisation are garbled and remixed to reveal their "true form". The protestors are colourful and lively, the police are grey and oppressive, the manufacturers are otherworldly, and so on. The boy searches for his father but it seems to be a search for something greater.

The Boy and The World has been one of my best discoveries in recent times. A movie that tells its story not through words but music, colours and the eyes of a young boy with a sense of wonder and innocence. The two dimensional animation did nothing if not alleviate the visual thrill that the movie was. A boy's imaginations were carefully captured that went apace with his emotions.

The story is about our young boy who sets out to seek his father who had to leave to work in the city. But on his journey, the boy finds many more facets of life that he had never experienced. He sees life as it could never have been in his imaginations. It is his survival through all the changes, which he never welcomed or run away from, that meets him in his lifelong quest for his father. It maybe a poignant piece for many viewers, but it is the 'hope' of the better world, which is born anew every time it is vanquished, made the movie marvellous.

Ale Abreu has not only produced a masterpiece, but also, I am sure, has given us that long overdue movie which vibrates in me as a symphony of life.