Flow: The Tides That Bind

The world has ended. Lush greenery has conquered the landscape as animals thrive upon the corpse of civilisation’s mysterious demise. Suddenly a massive flood engulfs all in its path, forcing a cat, dog, capybara, lemur and secretary bird to take refuge on a boat, reminiscent of Noah’s Ark.

Flow’s dialogue-less delivery ignores conventionally cartoonish anthropomorphism in other animal-led animated films, and instead gracefully intensifies these five animals’ natural animalistic traits just up to the point that it borders on relatable human behaviours.

The cat’s penchant for wandering independence reflects our self-sufficiency away from interpersonal interactions, juxtaposing against the dog’s heightened agreeableness to playful social dynamics that mirrors our crave to fit in. The lemur’s foraging prowess translates to hoarding, the capybara’s laid-back nature is like our laissez-faire attitude and the secretary bird’s tall silent stature can be seen as stoicism. All of them as naturally set in their ways as we are to ours.

Through the course of the film, each animal casts away their supposed naturalistic traits that segregated them, choosing to navigate the calamitous flood they faced with a gradually endearing unity under a mission to survive. Survival breeds belonging, and belonging breeds a sense of purpose beyond ourselves.

Lush greenery has conquered the landscape as animals thrive upon the corpse of civilisation’s mysterious demise

By doing this, the film shines a poignant beacon on the best that humanity can be. The instinctual characteristics of the animals exuding the triumphant human spirit compels us to remember that what’s good about us is only second nature to us, just as it was for these animals.

It is a bit woeful though, that only shared tragedies bring out the best from us. Flow tackles this final thought with subtle introspection.

When our world is safe, we become broken up into our own little worlds that are rooted in self-serving conduct, and this disenfranchises us from contributing to a better shared reality.

But maybe when we all stare into the puddle of despair and disaster, an intrinsic and universal better self is reflected back at us. Maybe that is how civilisation can be redeemed by the primal, by ending the world to save our humanity.