A woman's voice tells a story over a sketchbook. Its pictures soon come to life and the figures in it speak for themselves: a young brother and sister are giving an narration on their enduring escape, with experiences that are as bad as they are beautiful. Director Florence Miailhe brings this story to life as an animation, expressively painted with oil paints on glass and set in motion by trickery. Her film is unusual in both form and content, but all the more captivating for it. It goes back to her great-grandmother's escape from Odessa in 1905, but is designed like a fairy tale so as not to frighten anyone despite all the horrors.

At the beginning, we are in the present, at the desk of a painter who opens her sketchbook to describe the drawings. They show her youth, the village of her childhood, you see her parents, little siblings, her brother Adriel and herself: Kyona, 13 years old at the time. Even then she was already drawing, capturing her everyday life in pictures. These pictures soon take over the film, animated by trickery, they tell Kyona's story, the commentary voice is replaced by the voices of the film characters

THE ODYSSEE is an animated film that bears little resemblance to conventional formats. The drawings are bold and expressive, the colors often restrained, there is no comparison with the cute, brightly colored animated films of today. The film's plot is also unusual, as it depicts a long, dangerous escape, fictionalized but without embellishment. It begins with a raid in which armed farmers set Kyona's village on fire. The reason for this is the ethnicity of the villagers, called "Yurids" - which is enough to provoke hatred from the rest of the population.

Like almost everyone in the village, Kyona's family then decides to go on the long journey to reach the border. A cousin lives in the neighboring country, where it is much less dangerous for people of their origin, so they are told. They set off to meet him, five children and two adults. They take the train until a check by soldiers stops the family right at the beginning of the journey. Parents and siblings are arrested, only Adriel and Kyona can continue their journey - their mother has hidden them under blankets in the compartment.

In a town at the end of the railroad tracks, the siblings wait to see if their family will join them. After a few days without any results, they are forced to join a gang of street kids. With them, they rummage through garbage dumps, steal from the townspeople and learn to get by. The leader and protector of the gang is Iskender, a boy with strange tattoos on his face. You will see this more often in this movie: People with tattoos that testify their membership of a particular ethnic group – even though these groups are given fictitious names here in order to maintain the character of the fairytale.

In fact, the escape sometimes comes close to a fairy tale: Adriel and Kyona are captured and sold to a decadent couple, but escape after a bizarre stay there. The story continues in a fantastically black and white painted forest that separates them for a winter. Wise old witches appear, a circus troupe in solidarity, many animals who do not understand what is happening, but who represent a familiar constant for Kyona in a world of uncertainties.

Bit by bit, the two make their way towards the border. There are repeated setbacks, companions are arrested or die. But the journey is not a path of despair. They find friends, even love, and get to know countless other fugitives whose courage and humor illuminate the story. On this occasion, you learn many of the backgrounds that make an escape necessary, and you can understand them all. In this way, THE ODYSSEE becomes a film about solidarity and drive, while at the same time making it clear to viewers that in the past, as today, escape is sometimes the only hope of securing survival.

(26.01.2024)

Production Country

Czech Republic (CZ), France (FR), Germany (DE)

Production Period

2020/2021

Production Year

2021

color

color

Duration

Feature-Length Film (61+ Min.)

Type

Animated Film

Genre

Fantasy / Fairy Tale, Anti-war / War Film

Topic

Violence, Coming of Age, Migration / Flight / Exile

Available Media

DCP, Blu-ray Disc, DVD, Digital Film

Original Version

German (de)

DCP

Subtitles

German (full), English (en), French (fr), Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (short), Russian (ru), Arabic (ar), Ukrainian (uk)

Blu-ray Disc

Subtitles

German (full), English (en), French (fr), Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (short), Russian (ru), Arabic (ar)

DVD

Subtitles

German (full), English (en), French (fr), Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (short), Russian (ru), Arabic (ar)

Note on the Format

DVD-Vertrieb ab 01.07.2024 möglich.

Digital Film

Subtitles

German (full), English (en), French (fr), Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (short), Russian (ru), Arabic (ar), Ukrainian (uk)