ZARAFA: ANIMATED FRENCH FILM HAS GOT LEGS
Jeff Heinrich
Canwest News Service
August 2, 2012 Thursday 06:01 PM EST
Canada
With the voices of: Simon Abkarian, Ronit Elkabetz, Fellag Playing
in French at: Beaubien, Boucherville, Pont Viau, Quartier Latin and
St. Eustache cinemas.
Parents’ guide: some scary scenes (dog and wolf attacks).
True story: In 1827, a two-year-old giraffe named Zarafa was shipped
from the Sudan to Marseille and on to Paris, where he was given as
a gift of Egypt’s pasha to the king of France.
Joining the royal menagerie in the Jardin des Plantes, Zarafa became
an immediate sensation, ogled that summer by more than half a million
visitors to the zoo.
He was the first giraffe any had ever seen outside a book. He made
the cover of magazines, caused a fashion trend in ladies’ shoes
(spotted leather, naturally) and lived to age 18.
You can see his stuffed body at a museum in La Rochelle.
The animal’s amazing story has now been adapted by a team of animators
in France, China and the Phillippines into a remarkable 2D children’s
feature titled, simply, Zarafa.
Conceived and directed by Remi Bezancon and Jean-Christophe Lie,
the French-language film premiered here two weeks ago at the Fantasia
film festival.
It succeeds on every level: artistic, educational, and as
entertainment. It’s an adventure story, an animal rights story,
a parable about freedom and responsibility.
It even has a happy ending – just right for a kids’ movie.
The tale is framed as storytelling: An old man sits under a baobab
tree in Africa and recounts Zarafa’s journey to a group of wide-eyed
children, then the scene he’s telling unfolds.
The technique might tire audiences not used to narration; every time
the movie returns to the man under the tree, we’re jolted out of the
19th century and back into the present.
Nonetheless, the story is rich and the characters well-defined, thanks
to some fine voice work by actors like Fellag (Monsieur Lazhar),
who has a funny scene as a merchant at an oasis.
Israeli actress Ronit Elkabetz (The Band’s Visit) is electric, too,
as the voice of Bouboulina, the sultry captain of a Greek pirate ship
that shadows Zarafa across the Mediterraean.
But the chief roles go to two others – a veteran and a teenager.
French-Armenian actor Simon Abkarian (L’armee du crime) is the bedouin,
Hassan, who brings Zafara to France, and young Max Renaudin is the
slave boy, Maki, who accompanies him.
Together the pair brave the scorching heat of a desert crossing,
the bustling chaos of the ports of Alexandria and Marseilles, and a
wild ballon trip over the snowy Alps.
They’re also menaced by a rifle-toting slave trader named Morena
(Thierry Fremont) and by a pack of mountain wolves (why, oh why,
are movie wolves always so bloodthirsty?)
Drawn the old-school way in two dimensions, the animation might seem
a little too Bambi-like to a generation raised on Ratatouille and
Toy Story.
But it’s sized big and wide in Cinemascope, and 2D still has the power
to enthrall, as packed houses for other animated kids’ features over
the last 15 years have proven.
Maybe you’ve seen some: Michel Ocelot’s Kirikou, Sylvain Chomet’s
Oscar-nominated Les triplettes de Belleville, the Japanese Studio
Ghibli’s Secret World of Arrietty – all great.
Zarafa is, too. The movie’s been well-reviewed in France since its
release in February. Now it’s your turn to take the kids – or wait
for the English dub, which can’t be far behind.
Like the giraffe, this one’s got legs.