Mar 26, 2025 Flow: A Stunning and Emotional Journey Through A Cat’s Eyes
The 2025 Oscar-winning animated masterpiece Flow tells a beautiful story about nature and animals. The film weaves many emotions and subplots among its animal characters, blending morals, adventure, pathos, and humor. As the Best Animated Feature Film Oscar winner at the 2025 Academy Awards, Flow is a visually stunning work full of wonder and color.
At the heart of this vibrant world is the protagonist, a black cat [Felis catus] who struggles to survive in a changing natural environment. Some might argue that the story’s true focus is actually the cat’s eyes. The film showcases the cat exploring the lush landscapes of temperate forests and its adventures underwater. We observe the world as if through the eyes of a cat, taking in everything around us.
The artistic ingenuity in the animation is unmatched, surpassing the artistry displayed by Pixar in Finding Nemo. The film’s gorgeous skies, trees, cityscapes, flowers, butterflies, birds, fish, storms and constant motion are unmatched by other animated films.
Neither the cat nor the audience can predict the story’s direction, as it is ever-changing. However, it comes full circle by the end. Unlike most animated films, it does not anthropomorphize its animal characters or provide them or anyone else, with human dialogue. But there is plenty of communication. The director used actual animal sounds for the characters, although a baby camel’s sounds were used for the capybara. The central theme revolves around the dismay and anxiety experienced by animals as they witness their habitat disappearing – a tragedy faced by animals worldwide today. As they observe the degradation and loss of their native environments, mammals, birds, and other species confront difficult choices regarding their survival.
The film was created by Latvia’s independent filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis, who worked in obscurity until Cannes showcased Flow. The camera’s point of view constantly moves gently, showcasing an impressive and effective technique.
Almost every scene features water in some way, and the portrayal of water, underwater scenes, the sky, natural landscapes and cityscapes surpasses the quality of any previous animated film. The flooded landscapes are hauntingly beautiful, with submerged cities and monuments rising from the depths, evoking a sense of wonder for the animals and the audience.
Like all great movies, it is also a love story, but a subtle one, where animals learn about and accept one another. The film excels in portraying animals on their terms without relating their experiences to humans or anthropomorphizing them. The film effectively evokes empathy for its animal characters as thinking, active beings with distinctive personalities and desires.
Flow continues to show in theaters and streaming on various platforms.
Steven Hansch is a humanitarian aid specialist with extensive field, management, and evaluation experience. He teaches at several universities and serves on several nonprofit boards involved in human development and humanitarian aid.