The Red Turtle

• Title: La tortue rouge
• IMDb: link

“Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.”
—Zhuangzi

It begins with a man lost at sea in a storm. Shipwrecked on a deserted tropical island, for eighty-minutes without a single word of dialogue being spoken (other than a guttural grunt or two) our nameless protagonist attempts to survive but finds his attempts to escape the island thwarted by a giant red turtle. Initially believing the turtle to be and adversary to be overcome, the increasingly-confused sailor struggles to deal with what his eyes show him and the consequences of his actions as he lives out a life he never thought possible.

An animated feature without dialogue is ambitious to say the least. Filled with the sounds of the island (such as the birds, scampering crabs, crashing waves, buzzing flies) The Red Turtle is hardly a silent film, but words are not needed to convey the emotions of the sailor. Co-produced by Wild Bunch and Studio Ghibli, you may have to travel to the closest art house to view the film, or wait until its release on home video, but the unique experience is certainly worth your time.