The Boy and the World

Fractal patterns consolidate to form a colourful stone. A young boy in a striped shirt looks up and skips into the forest. Perched in the treetops, he jumps on to a cloud and looks out over the earth. Dark billows of smoke in the distance draw closer and the wind carries him back to the forest.
This peaceful idyll is shattered one day when Cuca’s father has to head off to the city in search of work. Before bidding him farewell, he plays his son a melody. From then on, the child’s memories go round in circles, until Cuca packs his own suitcase one day. In a kaleidoscope-like manner, the story in “O Menino e o Mundo” revolves around globalisation and its negative impact on rural communities. In this hand-drawn animated fable, the Brazilian artist Alê Abreu tells of a child’s cheerful curiosity and the loss of cultural traditions. In search of his father, Cuca journeys across the wide open countryside and encounters strange creatures. His naïve buoyancy is juxtaposed with the sad fate of the field and factory workers. The melody played by his father floats in bubbles of air, luring Cuca ever closer to the spiry metropolises, where he is confronted with elephantine machines, military troops and aberrant advertising.
Abreu and his animation team cast a spell on viewers with their colourful drawings and futuristic cityscapes, complemented with 3-D animation. To the benefit of the exuberant score, the film dispenses almost completely with spoken language. And thanks to the multifaceted tale, with flashbacks and -forwards, the film fascinates young and old alike as it awakens the child in us all – full of hope and zest for life. (ml)