The Earth at the beginning of the 22nd century is in a bad state. All the flora and fauna have disappeared and what remains of humanity lives under a giant dome protecting what remains of the city of Budapest. The inhabitants live there rather comfortably, an existence that seems normal. But, once they reach the age of 50, they must sacrifice themselves: their bodies are stored to serve as nurses for trees, freeing up space for their children. Nora, traumatized by the death of her little boy and who has not even reached forty, anticipates the call. Her husband, Stefan, will do everything to get her back and thus discover one of the best-kept secrets of this gently totalitarian society…
A pleasant surprise in this animated film in the Hungarian language, which immediately takes up the problem of the mythical “Green Sun”, a 1973 anticipation film, at the end of which we discovered that the poor were unknowingly consuming the flesh of the deceased. , but also “The Crystal Age”, from 1976, where the life expectancy of the characters was limited to 30 years.
A modern eco-tale
This modern eco-tale turns out to be less stressful, even if it broadcasts a desperate environmental message for almost two hours. Surprisingly, it also appears very romantic and its unexpected conclusion allows in fine to leave with a note of hope.
As you can imagine, the resources allocated to this Hungarian-Slovak co-production should not have represented a quarter of half the budget of a Disney or a Pixar. However, it is largely up to the task, including in its form. The director duo used one of the oldest known animation techniques, rotoscoping: real actors play the scenes from the film, which are then drawn frame by frame. The result is disorienting at first, before the viewer’s eye gets used to it, since their brain no longer thinks about it. In any case, this “Sky dome 2123”, already presented at numerous festivals, constitutes a nice little surprise.