Sin #42: Pen Pals

There’s something quite special about writing a letter, and when I say letter I mean an actual hand-written piece of paper. Even though we’ve become accustomed to the wonders of computer advancements, I’ve always thought there was something impersonal about e-mails; sure, they are quite easy to send and practical to write but I’ve never been as interested or stimulated by them and I’ve grown frustrated by the amount of spam currently sitting in my inbox. Of course these are troubles of modern times; some decades ago all people had were pens, paper and writing machines (which use can be equally frustrating, at least for me).

For a lonely girl living in the seventies in Australia it must have been hard, considering that her school mates make fun of her and at home her father is distant and mother is a raging alcoholic. It seems that her only friends in the whole world are some ugly figurines of a cartoon show on TV; this is the life of Mary Daisy Dinkle.

On the other side of the globe, in New York City, an obese man with serious psychological problems lies in his couch watching TV and eating chocolate hot dogs. He spends most days as a recluse and suffers from constant nervous breakdowns; this is the life of Max Jerry Horovitz.

One day Mary goes to the post office and rips a page from the archives that feature Max’s address. She decides to write to him and explain her current situation; he writes back and suddenly an unusual friendship starts to develop.

“Mary and Max” is a delightful stop-motion animated film from Australia that may be too mature and sophisticated (and rather sad) for younger audiences. We follow the journey of these two characters and care for them; they are more human that many of the ones that feature in live action dramas.

I don’t know why the Academy failed to nominate “Mary and Max” in the best animated feature category but at least they honored “The Secret of Kells”, a fantastic Irish cartoon that returns to the classic 2D tradition of animation (which is getting rare in the American animated industry).

In a way “The Secret of Kells” is also about writing; this one is more about passing the traditions and ideas of a community. The book of Kells remains one of the most important objects of Celtic folklore and the movie does a great job in taking these tales and make them accessible for all audiences.

Both these movies are superior entertainments that not only amuse but also move us. They are testaments to the power of ideas.