Monday, March 03, 2025
Flow a theological film review of an ecological fable
Monthly I write a film review for Touchstone (the New Zealand Methodist magazine). Stretching back to 2005, some 180 plus films later, here is the review for February 2025.
Flow
A theological film review by Dr Steve Taylor
Flow is an animated and imaginative delight. A meowing cat must face her fear of water. In the face of rising waters, the cat sees a passing boat. Making a leap of faith, the cat pounces into a floating animal ark. Carried away by a sudden flood, an unlikely crew of animal creatures are swept toward uncertainty.
Flow is also a cinematic winner, awarded the 2025 Golden Globe [update – and an Academy Award] for best-animated feature. Big-budget studio films like Disney and Pixar have traditionally scooped film animation. Flow’s low-budget win is a triumph for Latvian film-maker, Gints Zilbalodis. It is also a ground-breaking moment for indie film and open source animation software, which was used by Zilbalodis and his animation team.
The animal characterisation in Flow is superb. Each animal’s journey across unknown waters is filled with humour. Cats cough hairballs and dogs chase tails. Secretary birds learn to steer, while lemurs and capybara learn to share. Together these animals learn that their survival relies on trust.
While Flow will attract families and delight lovers of cats and animals, the movie also offers much as an “ecological fable.” Flow’s animal ark floats past statues likely made by human hands and cities built by human endeavour. There are signs of civilization, yet humans are absent. Is Flow an apocalyptic telling of the collapse of human civilization? Or an imaginative reflection on pre-history of our planet? Approached as fable, Flow invites us to think imaginatively, first about ecology, then about theology.
Flow connects with several Genesis stories. In the beginning, in Genesis 1, God’s Spirit hovers over the waters. From the waters emerge sky, land and swarms of living creatures. Those of Pacific origin find in these verses the beginnings of a moana theology.
Flow invites us to think imaginatively about creation’s prehistory without humans. After all, there were no humans for five and a half of the six days of creation in Genesis 1. The earth grew and multiplied in ways unique and creative. Flow invites us to think with and among the creativity of the early days of the Spirit’s work in creation.
A few chapters later, in Genesis 6 to 9, God’s Spirit again hovered over the waters. In the Noah narrative, we read of an ark adrift on rising flood waters. We hear of animals together seeking salvation and a bird who acts as God’s messenger, a winged bearer of good news of ecological survival.
Flow invites us to think imaginatively about the survival of animals of both sea and land. After all, the rise of flood waters as described in Genesis 6 to 9 must surely have been a gift for fish, sharks and whales. As the waters of the deep burst forth, those who swim experienced new room to play. Equally, as floodwaters shrink, sea creatures of the deep risked becoming beached. In a world of finite resources, the ecological imagination of Flow reminds us that expansion for some is a contraction for others. Approaching Genesis in light of Flow offers animated and imaginative reminders of the Spirit’s work in a world without humans.
Rev Dr Steve Taylor is the author of “First Expressions” (2019) and writes widely in theology and popular culture, including regularly at www.emergentkiwi.org.nz.
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