Shelter

An emotional story about a homeless child.

This experimental animated short from South Africa focuses on a little girl who has ended up living on the street, following a terrible event. It begins with the heroine tearfully watching a house burn, suggestting that it is her own. The film then follows the poor child as she walks around a city, carrying a doll, looking for food and being treated badly by people. The girl constantly has a sad look on her face, cries at certain points and it is heart-breaking watching her living such a harsh and lonely life. The atmosphere is rather downbeat throughout, providing little indication that things are going to get better.

Many commendations go to all the individuals who worked on the animation, which consists of 2D and 3D animation and it looks wonderful, with terrific colours. Generally, there is not much detail on the characters and the environments, which is not a bad thing as it all looks superb regardless. The environments include buildings, particularly a church, nature and alleys. Interestingly, regarding the characters, the girl is the only one who has colour and human physical features. The other people have a human figure, however, their entire body is black, apart from their white eyes, making them look unhuman and menacing. By physically differentiating the child from other people, the film gives the impression that she is all by herself in the world.

A great deal of praise also goes to composer Vitu Maphenduka for developing remarkable music that creates a melancholic atmosphere and includes wonderful piano melodies. Acknowledgement also goes to the sound effects.

There are no spoken words, making the viewer rely on the images in order to undestand the story, which works quite well.

This animated short is an admirable achievement that shows the world through the eyes of a sad, homeless girl. Withing five minutes and through terrific animation and a great score, it tells a moving story about homelessness, loneliness, isolation and hopelessness.