AZUR AND ASMAR

From Michel Ocelot, the French director of the little Kirikù, returns a new and beautiful animated fairy tale entitled Azur and Asmar, which received the Unicef ​​prize in the "Alice in the cities" section at the Rome Film Festival. The film, made entirely with the 3D technique, has as its central theme the comparison between two different cultures and religions, such as the Christian and the Muslim. The story is set in the medieval period where ignorance and superstition play a fundamental role, especially in social relations, mostly divided by the various hierarchies ranging from sovereigns to servants. The main protagonists are Azur and Asmar; the first blond and blue-eyed is the son of a French king, the second with black eyes and hair is the son of an Arab nurse. Both raised by Asmar's mother, the two grow up happy as two brothers, albeit with some natural rivalry, as the same nurse is the incarnation and of the two different cultures, because she knows two languages, two countries, two religions, and for this one has double respect for all others. Every evening, the loving woman to make the two children fall asleep tells him the story of the Fairy of the Jinns, a prisoner of a mountain, who awaits her release by a strong young man with a noble soul. Unfortunately, one day, Azur's despotic father drives out Asmar and his mother, who must return to their country of origin, while Azur sets out far from France to study.
Although several years have passed, Azur, now an adult, continues to think about the memory of Asmar and his mother, who described the sunny places, where the Fairy of the Jinns, with whom he had fallen in love only with his imagination, was a prisoner. He then decides to leave and head south, crossing the sea. Arrived in the Maghreb due to a shipwreck, the young Azur will find himself rejected and rejected by the local population as it is said that those with blue eyes carry a curse with them. Azur then decides to keep his eyes closed and pretend to be blind, therefore he is forced to be a beggar and to be accompanied by a shady and repulsive individual called Rospu, who uses Azur as a camel, allowing himself to be carried on his back. One day Azur meets his nurse who has now become a rich lady and her son Asmar, who has now become a noble knight, who however rejects him as he is still embittered at being chased away by Azur's father. The nurse welcomes Azur as a lost son and will show him the way to the mountain where the princess is imprisoned. During his journey Azur and Asmar will meet a little Arab princess and an old Jew, who will help them overcome various difficulties. Azur therefore continues the search for the Fairy of the Jinns, facing enemies of the worst kind, such as bandits and brigands, and fantastic creatures. So too Asmar, also on the trail of the Fairy to be saved and increasingly enemy of Azur, until the day when the two young people save each other's lives. Azur and Asmar manage to enter the kingdom of lights together and free the Fairy of the Jinns, therefore there will be a dilemma: which of the two will have to marry the beautiful Fairy? Although fate has separated them, the two young people will be united by their only faith in a dream and by their hope for a better world, as they are aware that diversity is a wealth.

The film gives us beautiful images, framed by rich and detailed backgrounds that recall now the paintings of the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck, now the splendid arabesques of the Arab civilization of the "Thousand and One Nights", which integrate perfectly with the three-dimensional graphics of the characters stylized.

	Original title:	Azur et Asmar
	Country:	France
	Year:	2006
	Gender:	Entrainment
	Duration:	90 '
	Directed by:	Michel Ocelot
	Official site:	www.azuretasmar-lefilm.com
	Production:	Nord-Ouest Productions, Eurimages, Intuition Films, Lucky Red, Studio O
	Distribution:	Lucky Red
	Exit :	November 10, 2006

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