Another Cartoon Saloon effort that really impressed me with fantastic animation and sound design. This is a departure from _Song of the Sea_ and _The Secret of Kells_ in the sense that it's dealing with realistic, heavy subject matter instead of just folklore. It's like a combination of _Mulan_ and _Pan's Labyrinth_ set in contemporary Afghanistan. The problem for me is that the dreamy fairytale sequences as well as storytelling approach (I'm assuming they're aiming this at 12-15 year olds) sometimes take the edge off the material. It's emotional, but given the subject we're dealing with here, it should probably be way more depressing. Moreover, I feel like the fantasy sequences break up the natural flow of the story, though I completely understand why they're in there and shouldn't be removed. Still, I thought this was overall educational and well written with some excellent voice acting. As mentioned before, the production is really impressive. The unique atmosphere that's created by the visuals and score alone make this so much better than most animated films, and it deserves a lot more attention because of that.

7.5/10