Kirikou et la Sorciere
Hey. Hey, hey. Hey. Have you ever heard of Kirikou and the Sorceress before? Yes? Then join me in gleeing over how neat it is. No? Then, hey, read further if you're curious, because you should totally be curious. Asking why is important.
That's one of the lessons in Kirikou and the Sorceress, which already elevates it for me. I like a good story where asking why things are the way they are is seen as an important thing, but also a thing that can and should be tempered with wisdom. Kirikou and the Sorceress is an animated film from 1998; also, from France/Belgium and Michel Ocelet, who is both the writer and the director. How did I find it? It was recommended to me because I'd been inquisitively looking up The Secret of Kells. I stumbled across the whole film on youtube and, after a few seconds, found myself captivated by the gorgeous two-dimensional diorama layers of trees and leaves and the huts of an African village while beautiful music played and the camera swooped in on the hut of Kirikou's mother.
It's a great story. Kirikou is a folk-hero - I understand that the story is culled from a number of West African folktales, although I'm not familiar enough with West African folktales to pinpoint which - in the best sense. He is bold, brave, compassionate and clever, and he wants to know the why of things. When the adults in his life can't answer his question satisfactorily, he finds the answers himself.
The plot is fairly simple: Kirikou is born (he brings himself into the world, actually, and can speak and run faster than anything as soon as he walks out of his mother) into a village which suffers from a neighboring sorceress, Karaba. Karaba is supposed to have eaten all of the men/warriors who went to oppose her once the nearby spring dried up. She is so mean and evil that she is even supposed to have eaten all the men who didn't bother opposing her. Kirikou's very first act is to save his youngest uncle, the last remaining warrior, from the same fate. Karaba figures out pretty quickly that Kirikou is going to keep thwarting her until she puts a stop to the magical boy, so she starts to direct her malice his way.
I was often touched by Kirikou's story and the charactrs who occupy it. Kirikou: at one point, you think he's dead, and it is extremely sad. Kirikou: asking why Karaba is so mean and evil. Kirikou: noting to his Mom that even though he has saved the other children twice some of them still call him name because he is tiny (Kirikou is a magic child, and he's the tiniest that anybody's ever seen. A relief to his mother, I bet! since he literally walks himself out of her womb at the very beginning of the movie and introduces himself to his amazed-looking mother). Kirikou: asking, almost shyly, if he can crawl into his grandfather's lap, taking a quiet moment to say how sometimes he wishes he didn't have to save everybody all alone. Kirikou: coming across a nest of squirrels while digging his way under the sorceress's house, and his reaction, You're so cute! I won't hurt you. His big eyes when their Squirrel-Mom hears their cries and comes down to defend.
The animation is excellent. The people -- and the creatures -- all have distinctive character design. They also move like real people might move. Michel Ocelet clearly understands about using the silhouette to maximum effect, heightening a dramatic moment or an eloquent expression -- the sort of expression it takes an entire body to make -- to best effect. Indeed, I found myself admiring his use of silhouettes so much that, upon looking what else Michel Ocelet's been up to, I wasn't at all surprised to find 'Princes and Princesses,' a film that looks like it's almost all silhouette animation (and also like I really very much would like to see it).
But back to Kirikou and the Sorceress. The character design holds for the creatures who populate Kirikou's world as well: the sorceress's fetishes, all really intriguing, somewhat-industrial looking objects, the squirrels, the birds, a warthog, a skunk (ha! The skunk deploying its stink is also pretty hilariously but potently, take that as you will, done). The music is a good ornament for the plot.
It's a movie I want to buy, and I probably will, and not just for myself. I want to give copies of this movie to everyone I know who has young children, just so their kids can have a chance to watch a movie about a kid who grows up, but in the process of growing up, is clever and compassionate, is brave and questioning, is occasionally unsure and gets himself into a number of scrapes, but comes through in the end because of his strength of character. I want to pass out copies of this movie just so their kids can have a chance to watch an adventure that is simple enough that it is also full up of complexities. (I want to pass out copies of this movie just so friends of mine will have seen it so we can talk about it. It is really fun.)
Youtube thinks you need to be 18 or over to watch Kirikou and the Sorceress. I can only assume this is because none of the African ladies wear coconut bras or shirts (and Karaba the Sorceress actually has her nipples outlined in gold). As long as you're not offended or offput by drawn breasts, there's absolutely nothing in Kirikou and the Sorceress that warrants an 'adults only' rating.
Here is the trailer. http://www.kirikou.net/synopsis.html
Here is the film. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOv53wkorH8
That's one of the lessons in Kirikou and the Sorceress, which already elevates it for me. I like a good story where asking why things are the way they are is seen as an important thing, but also a thing that can and should be tempered with wisdom. Kirikou and the Sorceress is an animated film from 1998; also, from France/Belgium and Michel Ocelet, who is both the writer and the director. How did I find it? It was recommended to me because I'd been inquisitively looking up The Secret of Kells. I stumbled across the whole film on youtube and, after a few seconds, found myself captivated by the gorgeous two-dimensional diorama layers of trees and leaves and the huts of an African village while beautiful music played and the camera swooped in on the hut of Kirikou's mother.
It's a great story. Kirikou is a folk-hero - I understand that the story is culled from a number of West African folktales, although I'm not familiar enough with West African folktales to pinpoint which - in the best sense. He is bold, brave, compassionate and clever, and he wants to know the why of things. When the adults in his life can't answer his question satisfactorily, he finds the answers himself.
The plot is fairly simple: Kirikou is born (he brings himself into the world, actually, and can speak and run faster than anything as soon as he walks out of his mother) into a village which suffers from a neighboring sorceress, Karaba. Karaba is supposed to have eaten all of the men/warriors who went to oppose her once the nearby spring dried up. She is so mean and evil that she is even supposed to have eaten all the men who didn't bother opposing her. Kirikou's very first act is to save his youngest uncle, the last remaining warrior, from the same fate. Karaba figures out pretty quickly that Kirikou is going to keep thwarting her until she puts a stop to the magical boy, so she starts to direct her malice his way.
I was often touched by Kirikou's story and the charactrs who occupy it. Kirikou: at one point, you think he's dead, and it is extremely sad. Kirikou: asking why Karaba is so mean and evil. Kirikou: noting to his Mom that even though he has saved the other children twice some of them still call him name because he is tiny (Kirikou is a magic child, and he's the tiniest that anybody's ever seen. A relief to his mother, I bet! since he literally walks himself out of her womb at the very beginning of the movie and introduces himself to his amazed-looking mother). Kirikou: asking, almost shyly, if he can crawl into his grandfather's lap, taking a quiet moment to say how sometimes he wishes he didn't have to save everybody all alone. Kirikou: coming across a nest of squirrels while digging his way under the sorceress's house, and his reaction, You're so cute! I won't hurt you. His big eyes when their Squirrel-Mom hears their cries and comes down to defend.
The animation is excellent. The people -- and the creatures -- all have distinctive character design. They also move like real people might move. Michel Ocelet clearly understands about using the silhouette to maximum effect, heightening a dramatic moment or an eloquent expression -- the sort of expression it takes an entire body to make -- to best effect. Indeed, I found myself admiring his use of silhouettes so much that, upon looking what else Michel Ocelet's been up to, I wasn't at all surprised to find 'Princes and Princesses,' a film that looks like it's almost all silhouette animation (and also like I really very much would like to see it).
But back to Kirikou and the Sorceress. The character design holds for the creatures who populate Kirikou's world as well: the sorceress's fetishes, all really intriguing, somewhat-industrial looking objects, the squirrels, the birds, a warthog, a skunk (ha! The skunk deploying its stink is also pretty hilariously but potently, take that as you will, done). The music is a good ornament for the plot.
It's a movie I want to buy, and I probably will, and not just for myself. I want to give copies of this movie to everyone I know who has young children, just so their kids can have a chance to watch a movie about a kid who grows up, but in the process of growing up, is clever and compassionate, is brave and questioning, is occasionally unsure and gets himself into a number of scrapes, but comes through in the end because of his strength of character. I want to pass out copies of this movie just so their kids can have a chance to watch an adventure that is simple enough that it is also full up of complexities. (I want to pass out copies of this movie just so friends of mine will have seen it so we can talk about it. It is really fun.)
Youtube thinks you need to be 18 or over to watch Kirikou and the Sorceress. I can only assume this is because none of the African ladies wear coconut bras or shirts (and Karaba the Sorceress actually has her nipples outlined in gold). As long as you're not offended or offput by drawn breasts, there's absolutely nothing in Kirikou and the Sorceress that warrants an 'adults only' rating.
Here is the trailer. http://www.kirikou.net/synopsis.html
Here is the film. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOv53wkorH8