The Breadwinner (2017, Irish animation set in Afghanistan)

[Small Man Big Horse]

As mentioned in the title this is an Irish animation set in Afghanistan while it was under Taliban rule the first time around, where after her father is arrested young girl Parvana has to pretend to be a boy to buy food so that she and her mother and her siblings don't starve to death. It's bleak as hell without any doubt, but it also finds examples of kindness and caring, while as Parvana tells her younger brother the story of The Boy and The Elephant King it reflects on the nature of storytelling and how it can keep some sane in the most troubling of times.

Directed by Nora Twomey I wasn't surprised to see Tomm Moore's name in the credits as at times it has a similar look to his work (Wolfwalkers, The Song Of The Sea) and though you could suggest that some of the animation is quite simple it's often beautifully so, and this was something which I found really quite affecting and emotional, it made me angry and saddened for sure but not only that, which I was surprised and impressed by. 8.6/10