Watched the Latvian #Flow last night with one of my children and that’s sure an example of a #SacredMovie. I can certainly see why it is nominated for an #AcademyAward for Best #AnimatedFilm. There is no dialogue in this #movie—it’s about a #cat and some other #animals of various sorts, who live in a timeline where their planet is flooded, humans are gone, and they have to cooperate in order to survive. While the characters are more than slightly #anthropomorphic, for the most part these are realistic depictions of how animals generally behave, which I felt was engaging and drove the narrative because you didn’t have such a hard time #SuspendingDisbelief. The encounters with the #MirroredSurfaces refer to the ability of animals to be #selfconscious, and the #floods and foreboding referred to #humanity’s demonstrated inability to #selfreflect or head off #disaster. There were a number of #MagicalRealism elements that I felt are not to be taken literally, but directly lend to the thematic intent, so as to provide for metaphorically demonstrating the sacred quality of #community, and the redemptive power of #sacrifice.

Stylistically the #animation reminded me of Waking Life with its rotoscoping technique, crossed with the cel shading like from Zelda Breath of the Wild. As the creatures traipsed through watery gorges of lush greenery and tried to catch colorful fish swimming through recently flooded tropical forests, I was struck by the regard the animators paid towards faithfully rendering the movement, structure, and dynamics of living things in this #film, and how that really communicates the #joy and #awe we feel when we regard the #beauty, and #terror, of #life in its full extant.

My child said she loved when they found out that “real #friendship is more important than fake #friends.”