The Breadwinner Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

The Breadwinner Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 3, 2018

The animation medium is becoming an increasingly viable platform through which to tell increasingly dense, detailed, even dark stories. No longer a simple, colorful forum for mindless entertainment, animation, in all its forms and for many audiences, has matured and evolved into the medium for movies like The Breadwinner, a slightly flawed but dramatically sincere film about life's challenges in Taliban-occupied Afghanistan. The film's colorful visual strokes support a story that's simultaneously dark and uplifting, revealing the realities of life under an iron fist and strict code but also revealing the realities of the human condition, as one girl takes her life, and that of her family, into her own hands in an effort to make ends meet and make a life where it has all but been taken away. The film, directed by Nora Twomey (The Secret of Kells) and based on the novel of the same name by Deborah Ellis, has been nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar with a good chance of taking home the statue.

It's all I have left of value...but it can be yours!

Parvana (voiced by Saara Chaudry) is a young girl living in modern-day Afghanistan under Taliban rule. She sits with her maimed father Nurullah (voiced by Ali Badshah), once a teacher in more peaceful times, in the Kabul marketplace, the two hoping to make a little money to support the family, which includes Parvana's mother Fattema (voiced by Laara Sadiq), older sister Soraya (voiced by Shaista Latif) and infant brother Zaki. One day, a Taliban military man -- one of Nurullah's ex-students -- becomes enraged for no reason or provocation. He has Nurullah arrested, which, under Taliban rule, all but seals the family's fate; women are not allowed to conduct business. With no means of feeding the family, Parvana risks everything by cutting her hair and posing as a boy in hopes of securing a livable future for her family and seeing her father freed from prison, all the while experiencing a different side of the world she's always known.

The Breadwinner explores the grim realities of life in contemporary Taliban-controlled Afghanistan for families and for females in particular. It's often tonally dark, offset by a more agreeable color palette, but the movie's thematic resonance certainly dictates tone and pace rather than its visual stylings. It deals in personal loss, often detouring to tell a critical but tangential story in the more intensely darkly animated tale of the Elephant King that builds towards a key narrative component that's reveled later in the film. On first viewing, such scenes, as brilliantly animated and wonderfully narrated as they may be, appear to divert resources away from the more engaging immediacies as they deal with the central plot line, but by the time the final reveal is made, their place in the movie's larger context becomes much more satisfying and they'll certainly play better on repeat viewings with an understanding of the purpose they serve. But even as they break up the main story's flow, The Breadwinner never wants for improved narrative direction or greater character or world depth. Viewers will come to not only know the film's protagonist but also come to know her world, both its larger ebbs and flows and positives and negatives as well as the subtleties that don't necessarily dictate Parvana's actions but shape the finer details along the paths she must take. The film creates a complete picture of humanity, culture, history, and heart.

The movie is beautifully constructed, thoroughly imagined, and precisely animated. The visuals compliment the world and the characters who inhabit it, from the darkest depths of despair to the brightest glimmers of hope. But it’s not simply good artwork that makes the movie work, its the way the artwork melts aside in favor of the story. The animation is detailed and elegant but secondary to the film’s powerful narrative and quality voice work. The animation never feels like a separate, distinct element but rather a natural, innate component, a canvas on which something far more significant than colors and lines has been made. It makes for an interesting juxtaposition, with the movie’s often tonally dark, unflinchingly honest cultural depictions against the colorfully buoyant visual delights and essential humanity that drives the story. Voice work is top-notch as well, but The Breadwinner is certainly first and foremost a product of its engrossing narrative details and accessibly complex cultural studies and character builds.

The Breadwinner Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Breadwinner's 1080p transfer is a dazzling display of animation excellence. Beyond occasional edge shimmering, the image is sturdy and refined. Textural qualities are highly impressive, with the Blu-ray more than capable of presenting, with enriching and majestic clarity and detail, all of the organic and natural textures seen throughout the film, whether clothes, terrain, or small character details, like bruises and scuffs. Colors are lively, with more intensive and deeply saturated and nuanced shades in the "story world" while brightly colored garments, fruits, eyes, rugs, and other bold color strokes pop with impressive intensity in the "real world," particularly contrasting against the predominantly earthen backgrounds. Black levels are pleasingly and perfectly deep. No significant source or encode issues are present. A great film earns a wonderful 1080p image.

The Breadwinner Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Breadwinner features a well-rounded DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Musical definition is stellar, with the fine instrument detail wide and audible. Several discrete effects help define the film's real and story worlds, while more intensive, room-filling effects rumble and douse the stage with pinpoint sonic excellence. Bustling Kabul marketplace streets are nicely enveloping as a jumble of small details create a big, open, believable environment. Dialogue is clear and commanding with natural front-center stage placement.

The Breadwinner Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Breadwinner contains a commentary track, a few featurettes, and a trailer. A DVD copy of the film and a digital copy voucher are included with purchase.

• Introduction (1080p, 0:35): Director Nora Twomey and Executive Producer Angelina Jolie share a few thoughts.
• Audio Commentary: Director Nora Twomey, Co-Art Director Ciaran Duffy, Sequence Director Jeremy Purcell, and Animation Director Fabian Erlinghauser deliver a clear, well-spoken, intricate, but accessible commentary that begins with project origins and transitioning the source into an animated feature with heavy emphasis thereafter on narrative and visual construction. A fine, technically oriented track that supports the film very well.
• Behind the Scenes with the Cast (1080p, 9:36): The filmmakers and voice actors reflect on the source material, the narrative, and the characters.
• Animating the Film (1080p, 6:16): An interesting glimpse into the global work of digitally building the film, including characters and environments.
• Creating the Music and Sound (1080p, 4:48): Much like the previous piece, this is a focused supplement that examines, here, the sonic elements that define the film, both in its "real world" and its "story world" and how the sounds support the narrative.
• Telling the Story (1080p, 7:49): A further discussion of the source book and the filmmakers' efforts to make the film as real as possible, which encompasses voice casting, interviewing real Afghans ahead of the project, and more.
• Theatrical Trailer (1080p, 1:58).
• More from GKids (1080p): Trailers for Song of the Sea, Miss Hokusai, My Life as a Zucchini, and Boy and the World.

The Breadwinner Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Breadwinner's impressive dramatic heft and emotionally charged narrative, capable and complimentary animation, and strong voice work make it an easy nominee for the Animated Film Oscar, though Coco would be this reviewer's selection for that honor. Gold or no at the ceremony, there's no denying the film's wonderfully structured tale, timeliness, and timelessness. Universal's Blu-ray does it proud, with exceptional video and audio and a nice array of bonus content. Highly recommended.