“The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.”
— Henry Beston in The Outermost House
Flow, a likely nominee for Academy Awards in the Best Animated Film and Best International Feature Film categories, is a 2024 animated adventure fantasy film from Latvia. Starring a group of animals, it has no human characters, no voiceovers from humans, only realistic sounding animal vocalizations like a cat’s cry or meow.
The animation is multi-layered and dreamlike, evoking both a deep sense of presence and mystery. How some shapes – stories-high animal heads, tapered towers, strange rock formations – came to be is not explained. The animated scenes flow into each other from darkness to light, from misty to clear. The underwater scenes are especially noteworthy; they give real meaning to the word immersive.
Cat, a black cat with saucer-like golden eyes, is being chased by a pack of dogs when a stampede of deer crosses his path, followed by huge waves of a tsunami. Cat manages to climb out of the flood waters to the top of a large cat sculpture. Just when he reaches the highest point, he falls into a sailboat. Aboard is a Capybara, a large lump of an animal who spends a lot of his time sleeping.
Soon other animals join them. They pick up a ring-tailed Lemur who has been collecting shiny junk in the ruined buildings. One of his favorite pieces is a large ball, which is a total delight to a Labrador Retriever, a recent addition to the boat.
A large white Secretarybird appears first as a threat and then as a helper. He grabs the Cat and carries him away. But when a whole flock of the birds arrive, Secretarybird defends Cat. His wing is hurt in the fight and, unable to fly away, he joins the group on the sailboat.
Flow provides lessons in how to create a community. Although strangers at first, these animals become friends, willing to support each other in the flooded world. When they pass a building where the dogs from the early scenes are stranded, they offer hospitality, sailing close enough to take them in.
Cat, who initially is very fearful (his ears are pressed close to his head), gradually comes to see the other animals as welcome companions. He dives into the water and catches fish of all sizes and colors, depositing his finds in a pile where the other animals can eat them. This kind practice of generosity earns him the trust of the others. Although their adventure takes them into some scary areas, the animals do enjoy playing with the ball and other trinkets.
One theme permeates this story, and although it certainly fits with the animals’ behavior, we can also universalize it to human activities. As time passes and the world once again changes around him, we realize that Cat is yearning for one thing: belonging. How he finds it is an example for us all.