Director: Nora Twomey
Starring: Saara Chaudry, Ali Badshah, Shaista Latif, Soma Bhatia
Released: May 25
Nine years on from her role as co-director of the extremely successful The Secret of Kells, Nora Twomey is on solo directing duties here with The Breadwinner. The film tells the tale of a young girl who, due to circumstances beyond her control, becomes the literal breadwinner for her family in Kabul while living under the tight restrictions of Taliban rule.
Though Twomey flies alone this time in one sense, the overall production is a combined effort with her own Cartoon Saloon, Canada’s Aircraft Pictures and Luxembourg’s Melusine Productions, all working alongside each other under Angelina Jolie’s Jolie Pas Productions.
The Breadwinner is an adaptation of the eponymous book by Deborah Ellis (who also lends a hand with the screenplay). The book found immediate mass appeal when it was published in 2000 and now in the time of the #MeToo campaign, Malala Yousafzai, Ahed Tamimi, Wonder Woman, the Bold Girls campaign and the numerous historical female characters finally coming to light thanks to books like Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, perhaps The Breadwinner film will also find immediate lucrative success.
Parvana is an 11-year-old girl who lives with her parents, older sister and two younger siblings. Her father, a kind and gentle man, is wrongfully arrested by the Taliban of leaving a household of women to fend for themselves. Ordinarily, this would be of little concern but under the strict enforcement of Taliban rule and Sharia law, women are only allowed to leave the house accompanied by a man. Parvana’s mother sends word to relatives to help them but Parvana herself cannot wait. The family have little food and little water. She decides to cut her hair, disguise herself as a boy and take charge of the situation. She is joined by another girl in a similar situation and together the two discover their city, and all its dangers, for the first time.
Though not as well-rounded and visually delicious as Pixar, nor as cute and endearing as Studio Ghibli, the distinctive animation style works wonderfully well here when it’s paired with the often daunting nature of the story. In particular, it really shines when the beautifully rendered everyday scenes spilling with spots of light and carefully contoured shadows and shade segue into jaunty puppet-like animation once Parvana begins to recount her tales of adventure to the family. The power of storytelling becomes one of the central tenants of The Breadwinner as others seek temporary solace in her words, escaping the harsh realities around them.
One might wonder however who the target audience is? Beneath the handsome good looks, spellbinding momentum and youthful leading voice, this is, at times, very bleak stuff. It may be too much for younger audiences and too little for older ones who have seen similar stories many times before.
Regardless, having a child protagonist does not lessen the message and the motive, but rather enriches it. The Breadwinner does much more than fulfil the minimum objective of being a watchable and well-made animated feature film. It educates without preaching and is an honest, engrossing and compassionate film, full of carefully crafted characters. As an eye-opening and fair-handed hybrid of fact and fiction based social commentary, The Breadwinner is a splendid feature.
Words: Shane O’Reilly
