NETFLIX FILM REVIEW – THE BREADWINNER

Director
Nora Twomey
(THE SECRET OF KELLS)

Starring the voices of
Saara Chaudry, Ali Badshah, Laara Sadiq, Shaista Latif, Soma Chhaya and Kawa Ada

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie worked as executive producer for this English language animated drama that is set in 2001 during the Taliban-era in Afghanistan. An international co-production between Canada, Ireland and Luxembourg, THE BREADWINNER is based on the best-selling novel by Deborah Ellis (first published in 2000) and was an Oscar nominee for Best Animated Feature Film at this year’s Academy Awards.

Guru Studio’s first feature film project tells the story of an 11 year-old girl named Parvana (Saara Chaudry), who lives in Kabul with her father, Nurullah (Ali Badshah), mother, Fattema (Laara Sadiq) and three siblings. Like all women living under oppression there, Parvana is prohibited from being outdoors without a man right beside her and must keep almost every part of her skin covered. When Nurullah is wrongfully arrested and taken away to prison by Taliban soldiers, Parvana is forced to dangerously disguise herself as a boy in order to gain work and earn an income to provide for her family.

Image result for the breadwinner film stills
I didn’t discover that the THE BREADWINNER is an English-spoken production that is not produced in the country it is set until moments before viewing it on Netflix. In an instant, I had doubts concerning just how authentic its story and factually correct the writing would be. Thankfully, the author of the novel this film is based upon spent several months interviewing women and girls in refugee camps in Pakistan as part of her research and uses these interviews as the basis of her depiction of life in Afghanistan. Though we can’t be certain just how much content documented from these interviews has been purely transitioned across to this film, there is no doubt that THE BREADWINNER is credibly and unsparingly revealing a condemning truth most succinctly to a much broader audience than any film ever before.

As it ought to be, the depiction of life for women and the views of many males towards them that they co-exist with is incisively devised and searingly written. Even though this story is set in a place so foreign to almost everyone who will see this film, the subject and damning fact that inequality and violence/abuse against women that THE BREADWINNER is focusing on, is sadly far from being foreign in our world right now. Despite its M classification, this animated movie can and certainly should be viewed by a younger crowd, albeit with due discretion, parental guidance and the pre-viewing knowledge to expect to see a small handful of confronting and violent scenes (some of which do show animated blood). On the flip side, a sub-plot that involves Parvana telling her youngest sibling fictional stories, which the film often visually demonstrates as a temporary deviation from its heavier content, will help to keep younger audience members engaged to the film throughout.

Recommended viewing. Especially considering its ease of accessibility on Netflix!

3 ½ stars

If THE BREADWINNER interests you (and I hope after reading this that it does!), then be sure to also watch 2003 drama OSAMA, a non-animated rendition of this exact story that is made and set in Afghanistan.

Image result for the breadwinner film stills