No Fish Where to Go

Gr 2–4—A lot takes place in this animated short based on Marie-Francine Hébert's 2003 book of the same name. Two little girls befriend one another despite mounting tensions between their villages. Citizens wearing red shoes scorn those without, and ultimately they begin the forceful removal of their enemies at gunpoint. The girl, whose father doesn't wear red shoes, and her family are forced to leave their home, with little time to grab more than a bottle for the baby and the little girl's pet fish. Father is sent to a separate line, where a gunshot indicates that he has been murdered. The little girl trudges on to witness her teacher being chased from the burning school building, with a single gunshot indicating his demise. When she questions her oppressor, asking what her people did wrong, he prompts her to ask her grandfather. She replies, "He died in the war," and the assailant, who the girl learns is her friend's father, counters that he, too, lost a loved one in the war. Desperate and barely able to carry her fish bowl any further, the little girl spots her friend hiding behind a tree. She rushes to meet her and entrusts her with the care of the fish. They chant one last time, "We are two and two are one forever." The simple watercolor, sometimes darkly surreal, childlike illustrations are sure to haunt older viewers long after the credits roll.