The Breadwinner

From the creators of The Secret of Kells & Song of the Sea comes an unexpectedly bleak, depressing & powerfully evocative story that's crafted with the same passion, devotion & intimacy as their previous efforts, and paints a dark, disturbing & daring portrait of life under the regime of terror. Arresting, enchanting & thoroughly captivating, The Breadwinner is another winning feature from Cartoon Saloon that not only establishes them as a strong creative force but also catapults them into the same league as Pixar, Laika & Studio Ghibli.

In the Taliban-controlled city of Kabul, Afghanistan in the early 2000s, Parvana (voiced by Saara Chaudry) is a pre-teen girl who must disguise herself as a boy in order to earn money for her family. As females are forbidden to appear in public without an adult male, she must also shop for the family as well.

"The Breadwinner" is an animated film co-produced by Canada, Ireland, and Luxembourg and is in the English language.

The story (from the book by Deborah Ellis) can be highly praised for focusing on Parvana's struggles while also involving related subplots that add richly to the story without ever creating the feeling of overwhelm or confusion. The most fascinating is one that begins as Parvana (as a boy) is approached by an illiterate man who needs to have a letter read to him.

This film pulls no punches in the injustice against females by Taliban zealots. One of the ways this is exposed is when Parvana walks outside for the first time dressed as a boy and the viewer can easily sense her great feeling of freedom.

Two other strengths add to the greatness of this movie. One is unexpected humour. It truly works despite the grim situation overall and is neither facetious nor unbelievable. The other is the beautiful visuals in the animation. This is especially apparent in a parallel mythical story - one that matches the main narrative - which Parvana narrates to her baby brother.

The finale is open-ended leaving the viewer wondering what will happen to Parvana and her family. It's a rather perfect ending as it gives us just the right amount of information for us to imagine in different ways what could happen next.

Make no mistake: "The Breadwinner" is a winner in many ways. - dbamateurcritic

This movie gets a perfect score for me, but it's not for everyone.

Recently I saw many movies and even animated movies. But they were all made to impress in cheap ways such as huge stakes, awesome CGI and well known actors. The Breadwinner for me does so much more with so much less.

This movie however is about characters you wouldn't normally care about. About a story so far from your living room that you wont bother to check. And yet, this is why it touched me. It's a realistic take of a distant world. The characters and situations are as down to earth as possible, even compared to live action movies. The soul this movie has, with the small stakes of a poor family and even how a girl copes with the loss of her brother, is what most directors and writers fail to deliver. The movie gives many cultural elements of how an Afgan family lives, how men differ from women and how the whole city works.

I had to check and see if everything depicted in the movie was real in some way. This was a fictional story but so well crafted that left me stunned. I thought it could be a biography like the 10 year old cartoon movie Persepolis (which has similar style and setting) but it's not.

The description of this movie "an 11-year-old girl who cuts off her hair and dresses like a boy to support her family", put me off at first because it reminded me of Mulan. This may not be a blockbuster but it is a superior film made by a smaller company.

Cartoon Saloon shows us a moving story in Afghanistan; the plot is good, the characters are charismatic, the animation is excellent and the soundtrack is very good; I highly recommend it.

It was good. Powerful film. As a writer, and a lover of a good story, this was a good story. A glimpse into the look of lives, human lives, that many seem to forget about whenever speaking about the middle east. It reminds me of a more, hopeful version of Grave of the fireflies. Again, a lot more hopeful, but no less powerful. Especially the ending. Worth watching.