I know I am quite late to the party, but I just got the chance to finish this Oscar-winning masterpiece, Flow. And the underlying message that stayed with me at the end was quite touching, to say the least. I mean, in this modern world, we are at war with each other. We are divided on the basis of race, religion, caste, class, and more, but Flow teaches that when the world is at the brink of extinction, we will have no choice but to abandon our prejudices and to work collectively as humans to survive against odds. One of the running themes of the film was that the demeanor of the animals changed completely whenever they were with their own species. I guess it happens for us humans too, who are always trying to impress the people of our community. The tragic thing is, while we are among those of our own race, class, religion, etc., we often tend to either ignore the presence of people from other communities, or sometimes turn against them, likely to show our loyalty towards our people. I think you might have heard the phrase “United we stand, divided we fall.” So, what Flow tried to do is just add a little context to this popular quote to tell you that you don’t always have to stand with your own people to do the “right thing.” Sometimes your own people might be in the wrong, and it’s your duty to stand for what’s right. This was what the white secretarybird did. It went against its own flock to protect the dark grey cat.
Coming to the ending scene of the film, we saw the floodwater draining out of the forest, soon after which the cat spotted the mystical whale lying motionless on the land. I believe the reason why the creators chose not to use a real whale and used a mythical one is because they might want to suggest the presence of a higher being, like God, for example. And trust me, this particular mammal unravels the mystery and confusion we have with the narrative.
I believe the flood shown in Flow is an instance of the flood-myth motif, which cleanses the world of its malice. If you once again consider the message of the film, then it could be speculated that God caused the flood to teach all the living beings that the only way to survive in such an uncertain world is through peace and harmony. Even the animals couldn’t be at war with each other and fight over trivial things. They need to understand the importance of sticking together through thick and thin. But just being with others during times of need or danger isn’t enough. One must support and be kind to others even when there’s no flood. You might have noticed that the rest of the dogs abandoned the group the moment they saw a rabbit in the forest, but the cat’s new friend, a yellow labrador retriever, didn’t leave its side while it was trying to save the capybara stuck on the sailboat. A similar thing had happened with a ring-tailed lemur whose friends were fascinated by the shiny mirror the former had. I believe the rest of the group wanted the lemur to leave the cat’s boat and come with them, but it didn’t. It wanted to stay with its new friends who saved its life when its own friends weren’t around. If you further connect the film with the Genesis flood narrative, then one could see the cat as Noah and its lifeboat as the ark on which the cat took one animal of each species we saw in the film, except for the whale. And as I have considered the whale as a higher deity, I think, it wouldn’t be wrong to treat the cat itself as a messenger of God, which could explain the reason why we saw huge figures of cats, suggesting someone built temples for them in the forest.
Many readers on our ending explained article had dropped comments suggesting that the wooden boat stuck on one of the trees in the opening of the film hints that the flood is cyclical. Well, I won’t turn down this theory completely. If I am to entertain this possibility, then it could be that God or some higher deity is intent on flooding the world repeatedly until the living beings have learned their lesson. I believe the death of the whale in the ending scene of the film underlines the fact that at least one group of animals had grasped what God was trying to teach them. This might further suggest that there won’t be any more flooding in the forest, not so long as this group of four animals remains a beacon of hope for the rest of the animal kingdom. I know we saw yet another whale in Flow’s post-credit scene, but who said that there’s only one higher deity in the world? However, on second thought, we saw the whole film from the cat’s perspective, and if the post-credits scene followed the same pattern, then this could hint that the forest was flooded once again, and when the cat jumped in the water, it saw another whale during the sunset. If this is true, then it changes the film’s message a bit, implying that only those who stick together will likely survive the end of the world.
One of the mysteries that remained unsolved till the very end of the film was what actually happened to the secretarybird that helped the cat. The thing is, I refuse to believe that a bird with one of its wings broken could reach such a height, especially during a storm. I believe that the secretarybird sort of lost its mind when its fellow birds broke its wing for siding with the cat, and even though the secretarybird wanted to protect the cat’s group, it was struggling with its own loss, and in the end flew towards the mountains, maybe to prove to itself that it can still fly. I believe it died in the attempt, and the cat couldn’t make out what really happened. We had been seeing the whole film from a cat’s perspective, and they can be unreliable narrators at times, right? In the middle of the film, the cat had a similar ominous dream, which might suggest the cat mythologized the death of the secretarybird to give a heavenly departure to its friend. One can also see the bird’s demise as a sacrifice it had made so that the other beings could survive and thrive.
One thing that I had noticed throughout the film was that the cat and her group kept meeting the same species of animals and had the same mythical mountains in the background most of the time. This visual might suggest that the cat didn’t travel very far from its origin, and therefore the flooding of its forest might be a recurring event on their island or piece of land. We still don’t know where it is. It’s unclear if it’s even real or just a lonely cat’s imagination. Maybe the humans abandoned the area because of these constant floods, triggered by some natural earthquakes in the vicinity. Whatever the reason might be, the film makes use of the natural peril to educate humans to set aside their differences and stop discriminating against each other if they want to save their world and survive. If we will always be at war with each other, then we will never be able to face the natural disasters that are minutes away from our doorstep.
