Mavka: The Forest Song – Beautiful Animation, Wonderful Story From Ukraine Animation Studio

I finally had the chance to see Mavka: The Forest Song the other day, and it was amazing. The animation itself is beautiful, and the story is also captivating. Mavka calls herself the soul of the forest, and says that she is not a demon.

In the forest world that she inhabits, she has magic that might lead people to see her as a demon, but the love in her heart shines brightly, more brightly than the hate she needs to fight against.

Many years before this story starts, we learn of the battle between the humans and the forest spirits. A recurring theme, as of course the humans seeks to dominate and control the forest, and take the sacred tree for their own benefit.

Ukrainian legends are similar to those you may know, but they are also very different. In the forest world, the creatures and spirits there have ultimate power. The humans rightly fear them, as in the past, the humans were driven from the forest by its Guardian, who we meet soon after the story begins.

The Guardian knows that there is danger coming to the forest, and he also knows that he does not have the power to fight it. So, he has asked the spirits to choose a new guardian, that very evening. Everyone is nervous about the choosing, since it is the spirit of the forest, and not any individual, who will make the choice. The one so chosen will have greater powers than they have ever known before, and they can use these powers to defend the woodland creatures and the trees and nature itself.

Then, however, a wrench is thrown in. The wrench comes in the form of a young man who is in need of work in order to pay for the medicine in the city that his uncle needs to survive. On this very same day, the sawmill owner’s daughter Kylina returns to the town which she had left so long before. The sawmill owner’s daughter is a cunning, evil character, who seeks the magic of the tree that holds the spirits of the forest for herself.

It was because of her that the original battle between the humans and the forest took place. Her father came to the forest Guardian, begging for help with his daughter, who was dying from a dreadful disease, and needed a leaf from the spirit tree in order to be healed. The Guardian gave him the leaf, but the humans were not satisfied. They returned to take the whole tree, and were defeated by the Guardian and the spirits of the forest.

The cost to defeat the humans was very great. Many of the forest spirits and animals were destroyed, and the forest suffered great losses from the fire that drove the humans out. We are introduced to the forest in the sad state that it is now in. Although beautiful, it is but a shadow of what it was before.

Returning to the forest again

Of course, the sawmill owner’s daughter has never forgotten her wish to take over the forest, and she offers the people of the town a great deal of money if they will help her to conquer the forest. Everyone in the town remembers that battle, and no one wants to have anything to do with her. Except Lukas.

His uncle’s health is the most important thing to him, and he is willing to go to the forest and try to fund the special leaf that she wants, since it will pay for his uncle’s medicine. Two large, mean-looking and -acting thugs go with him to the forest. When they enter the forest, they see a large herd of bison, just standing there unafraid. This is a forest with few predators, and they have nothing to fear.

One of the thugs raises his gun and fires a shot. However, the hero of the story, Lukas, pushes his gun so that it does not succeed in killing anything. It does, however, reverberate throughout the forest, so that everyone knows there is danger. Naturally the thugs are not happy, and they demonstrate that quite clearly.

Just after this, the thugs and Lukas get separated. The two thugs are enchanted by the siren song of the nymphs of the forest, who, unlike Mavka, could be quite literally considered to be demons. The two thugs manage to escape with their lives, and run back to the Kylina’s house. She demands to know why they have returned, although they are in an obviously sorry state.

Back in the forest, Lukas takes out his flute and begins to play. His beautiful music is magical, and Mavka hears him, and her skin and eyes glow as he plays. She approaches him quietly, and he is afraid at first, but then they become friends. However, because Lukas is a human, he does not belong in the forest. Still, she takes her new friend to the ceremony where the new guardian is to be chosen, never thinking that she would become the new guardian.

When the spirits do choose her, Lukas, who had been disguising himself as a forest creature, blows his cover. Mavka is forced to make him return home on a lynx. But then she finds his flute, and she has to return it to him. When they find each other in his village, he is making her a charm necklace, and she repaired his flute to return it to him. She disguised herself so that the humans would not notice that she was not like them. However, when Lukas started to play his music for her, her hair turned back to its green color, and her cover was also blown.

She is whisked back to the forest by the previous guardian, who had secretly followed her. After this point, there is a lot of action, and so many things happen to change everything. Heroes materialize out of villains, and we learn a lot about the forest creatures and the villagers.

Suffice it to say, the ending is amazing. The artwork in this film is beautiful, however, the characters are all elongated in a strange way. They have very long legs and short torsos, and look a little bit odd. It takes some getting used to.

If you love beautiful stories, where love is the conquering force, and heroes win while villains get their come-uppance, you will love this movie. It is incredibly moving, and will leave you with a positive view of humanity, and a great deal of hopefulness.

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It should be mentioned that the people of Ukraine have a bit of a different perception of nature and humans than we are used to. As in the previous Ukrainian animation film, the Stolen Princess reviewed here, the animals play a crucial role in this film. Nearly everything that happens, from start to finish, would not have happened without the intervention of an animal, including the final scenes where the betrayals are revealed and the heroes are rescued by other heroes. The ending was very satisfying, and this was overall an amazing movie.

I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves a beautiful story that will inspire hope and love in their own heart. The animation itself was quite beautiful, and they use several different technologies that produce convincing illusions of real life. The water and trees were especially well done. CGI technology has certainly evolved. And in this movie, the weird CGI effect on the eyes was actually used to an advantage. Mavka’s eyes should look like suns, and they focus on that oddity of the animation software with great effect.

I would give this movie five stars, and highly recommend you watch it.

Banner Image: Mavka The Forest Song promo graphic. Image Credit – Animagrad Animation Studio