Flow is an animated film by Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis, that premiered at the Cannes Festival in 2024. Soon after, it achieved the status of one of the most successful films of the Latvian cinema. At the 97th Academy Awards, it won the Best Animated Film award. Flow depicts the Great Flood, an ancient myth present in almost every civilization and culture. However, this time, we look at the ancient archetypal legend of destruction and restoration, inherent in the human understanding of the world, from the perspective of a cat. This combination would not be so unusual if it was not an attempt to show animals as convincingly as possible in the film, while at the same time watching them effectively navigate the ark in search of rescue from the flood.

One of the leading qualities of Flow is the design and animation of animals so that a high degree of persuasiveness and naturalness is achieved in a multitude of small reactions, which are inherent in the presented specimens of fauna, of course, bearing in mind that each species carries its own code of expression. It is clear that behind this is a serious and dedicated study of these diverse creatures, which is confirmed by the wide range of sounds and calls of animals in the film, which, in symbiosis with the almost constant music of Rihards Zalupe, achieve a special enjoyment, unencumbered by words. The absence of dialogue reduces the story to visual storytelling, which means that the behavior of the characters must be clear and convincing enough to convey emotions and action, without the need for words. It is interesting that, although the animals in the film function according to their instincts and physical characteristics, the animators give them human characteristics in terms of social dynamics and psychology. Their interactions, such as teamwork on an ark, solving problems, or creating emotional connections among themselves, have a human character, but at the same time are rooted in their real behaviors. The male-female conflict between white birds adds a dimension of some patriarchal oppression, completely redundant for such a story. Even though this thematic digression could have easily been avoided by applying gender neutrality as with other characters. Although man does not appear in this story, it is not completely devoid of man's trace, so from time to time we look at the outlines of the former civilization, although the author deliberately avoided offering a clear context of this world. In this regard, many questions are raised, aimed at choosing the topic of the flood in combination with unusual animals, surrounded by a world that confuses as much as it sparks the imagination. The visual splendor of the re-emerging world cannot compensate for somewhat arbitrary details and events such as the one when a mysterious bird almost ritually surrenders to a celestial rift. A cynic would say that this event achieves insufficient poeticity and universality so that it can stand on its own without at least an approximately given context. Unlike the final scene of the moving suffering of the whale, which, throughout the entire length of the film, expands its boundaries and enjoys increasing freedom.

The film begins with a shot of Cat, the film's protagonist, gazing at its own reflection in the water. With a similar scene, the story ends, but this time in the company of other companion animals. The reflection of the characters from the end is perhaps just a simple picture of achieving team organization, and perhaps it represents a contemplation of one's own appearance and existence, suggesting a certain questioning over the role and identity of these extremely unusual animals, in the equally astonishing posthuman world as we watched it. The animal's inner life, manifested through a very characteristic and complex appearance in combination with human social interactions and character development, represents a contradiction that seems to work mostly well during the film but is still not self-sufficient but floats without a clear framework.