The geopolitical chronicle of the last period doesn’t provide rosy scenarios, and animation is often a vibrant, very clear, and well-conceived key to understanding what is happening in the world.
Brillant animated films like Persepolis can be watched and rewatched due to their irreverent poetry.
Based on the autobiographical graphic novel of the Iranian author Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis gives us a wide vision of what the Islamic Revolution has been, especially for a teenager like Marjane.
Even in the magical and idyllic world of Ghibli Studios films, there’s often war in the background. Above all, ‘Grave of the Fireflies’ stands out, with its poignant and neorealistic portrait of World War II, which affected especially the little ones.
Definitely more sinister it’s the atmosphere in Waltz with Bashir, presented at Cannes in 2008 and winner of many awards, among these also a Golden Globe.
With a surreal graphic, which reminds a mix between a comic and an animation made with a rotoscoping technique, this film retraces the violence of the war in Lebanon through the nightmares of a veteran, who is the main character.
This film is banned in Lebanon since the vision and the shame of what happened are too much painful.
It’s similar the case of the less known and very recent Josep. It’s the story of Josep Bartoli, a Catalan cartoonist who tried to flee Francoism but was confined to concentration camps. A rough testimony that won an award at the Cesar and the European Film Awards 2020.
Talking about more present events, it has made people talk about itself the award-winning film The Breadwinner. Parvana, the protagonist, is a very brave and determined Afghan girl who has to face many difficulties and her story keeps us breathless. Based on Deborah Ellis’s novels and directed by Nora Twomey, it’s the winner of an Annie Award and it was nominated for an Oscar in 2017 for the best-animated film.
On the other hand, the director Anja Kofmel tells us about the war in the former Yugoslavia with the film Chris the Swiss, combining documentary and animation to tell the brutality of a war that afflicted her personally.
We can’t forget a hero like the great journalist and reporter Ryszard Kapuściński, who was the war correspondent protagonist of the animated film Another Day of Life which tells the civil war in Angola. That’s a very sensitive portrait of an extraordinary character that we all should know.