The Red Turtle

2016 [FRENCH]

Action / Animation / Drama / Family / Fantasy / Romance

97
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 81% · 172 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 81% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.5/10 10 41578 41.6K

coming of age survival loneliness crab raft sea turtle

Plot summary

The dialogue-less film follows the major life stages of a castaway on a deserted tropical island populated by turtles, crabs and birds.

Director

Michael Dudok de Wit Photo
Michael Dudok de Wit

Top cast

Tom Hudson Photo
Tom Hudson as The Son
Emmanuel Garijo Photo
Emmanuel Garijo as The Father
Baptiste Goy Photo
Baptiste Goy as The Son
720p.BluRay 720p.WEB 1080p.BluRay 1080p.WEB
740.62 MB
1280*694
French 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
1 hr 20 min
Seeds 7
665.88 MB
1280*694
French 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 20 min
Seeds 2
1.49 GB
1920*1040
French 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
1 hr 20 min
Seeds 31
1.21 GB
1920*1040
French 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 20 min
Seeds 17

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by siderite 8 / 10

A metaphor for the human life

A man is stranded on a tiny ocean island. All that happens from then on is beautifully drawn and animated, but is quite metaphorical. It's all about the cycle of life, so try to read more into events than just what's on the surface. Hah, the surface, get it? Well, you will when you see the film.There is absolutely no dialogue, just this simple story that somehow makes you feel stuff. The movements of the characters and animals are so fun and natural (maybe except a bat that was flying like a bird for some reason), the visuals are beautiful, it's a relaxing show.It might put you off with the pacing, perhaps. I found myself looking at how much was remaining from the film several times, but most of the time I was entertained. I liked it.
Reviewed by Saif_Hindawy 7 / 10

Amazing Silent Animation

This film really captures the idea of human interaction with the environment through it's plot and metaphors. There is no dialogue in the movie and we are forced to understand what is happening only through the visual medium. This makes the visual much more powerful but also gives room for the music to engross us completely.The man's struggle against nature is very literal in the beginning. He fights against the elements, trying to satisfy his hunger and thirst. While exploring the island he falls into a hole near a cliff where he gets stuck. He is forced to dive deep into a crevice between the rocks to escape outside to the sea. This is a clear metaphor for the struggles we face against nature. While we seek to explore and understand our world we are forced into tough spots that we then must overcome, a very relevant idea with climate change looming over us. This idea is further highlighted with the man trying to escape from the island using a raft that he built. The raft keeps getting destroyed, later we learn, by a giant red turtle. This sea turtle symbolizes nature, but also in a more idealistic sense it relates to wisdom, beauty and power. The man who is short term minded regards the actions of the turtle with hate. He destroys the turtle and causes it's death in a gruesome scene. Then a metamorphosis occurs where the man finds a beautiful lady within the turtle shell. As he falls in love with the lady and accepts his fate and comes to think of the island as a home, he comes to regret his previous actions. The meaning behind this particular sequence of surreal events can probably be interpreted in many ways. However, I come to believe that it's a message about environmentalism and how we don't regard beauty until it's too late.When his child later grows up, he falls into the same hole as the father. His mother then guides him to his escape showing the role of parenting and society in the progress of our relationship with nature. The boy later grows up and sets to escape the island with a raft, aided by turtles. This kind of cyclical end shows how we progress but how we also are repeating the lives of our parents in some way as well.The movie's animation is beautiful and very simple. The shadows are used more than once to bring out emotions of different kinds. The color palette is mostly dull and subdued which makes the vivid red of the turtle come out in a strong contrast. The surreal aspects of the dreams utilize the medium in a way that shows how animation can triumph live action in terms of it's simple yet effective delivery. There is comic relief in terms of little crabs that help break the tension and the overall somber note of the movie. Overall, the movie is strong, with significant themes and an emotional delivery, yet it is lacking of a more clear message. Although, I usually do appreciate metaphorical and symbolic movies that are more abstract in nature and leave the interpretation to the audience, the whole thing feels forced rather than a subtle layer.
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