Search - Sarah & The Squirrel on DVD

A triumphant in animation symbolizing the human spirit!

10/23/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Now who said cartoons are just kid's stuff, anyhow? From what you'd least expect from an animated film, this cartoon focuses on the Holocaust in eastern Europe from a child's point of view. Mia Farrow is great in the role of Sarah, real and animated. I think "Sarah and the Squirrel is actually called "The Seventh Match" and supposively based on a true story (I think someone found her diary and inspired the events that took place in this film). After escaping the ghetto from an air-raid attack, Sarah and her Jewish family retreat into the forest. When Sarah's grandmother becomes ill, her father decides to go back to the ghetto to try and get her some medicine, but never returns. While Sarah is away from her family's shelter she returns to find it empty and realizes that the Gestapo had taken her mother and grandmother away to a concentration camp (the Gestapo had probably caught Sarah's father and forced him to tell them where his family was). Sarah learns to survive on her own in the wild and makes friends with a squirrel,a mouse, and a wolf, and decides to stop the war by trying to demolish a nearby bridge the nazis use to import their weapons. Powerful, heart-breaking, moving, and scary at the same time, I recommend this movie to those who admire animation with life-related issues. The animation of the characters with a live-action backdrop and effect are astounding and the movie's clarinet music is especially haunting enough to grip your soul. Be sure to check out Isao Takahata's "Grave of the Fireflies", which is similair to this film. These are both classics. And anyone who hasn't seen animated such as these don't know what they're missing."