Flow, directed by Latvian animation director Gints Zilbalodis, won this year's Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

This movie is undoubtedly a thematic film depicting growth, awareness, awakening, redemption, and gratitude. It takes a journey of forced refuge brought about by a tidal wave, which leads to varying degrees of growth for the animals caught in the deluge.

The animals on the boat start from being similar in nature and distant in habits, and from having their own life issues, to later on, they are on the path of growth towards truth, goodness and beauty; the moment they stand still and see themselves side by side, they are no longer the same as they were at the time of their departure.

At the same time, the images of the heron eagle and the whale in the movie are also metaphors for the ferryman and the everlasting natural universe. They are both transcendent outsiders in their roles. It is not difficult to see from the plot of the kitten, which is incapable of hunting on its own and resisting the strong, falling into the water and drowning, that the heron eagle and the whale have been helping and redeeming it.

Both the heron eagle and the whale deserve to be singled out.

Every time I saw the whale appear, I felt that the kitten's guardian deity appeared, as if guarding the kitten's rafting journey. In order to prevent the kitten from dying on the way, the whale comes to the rescue and protects it in the water three times. Instead, it was stranded on land at low tide.The kitten discovers the stranded whale, and at this moment the kitten understands gratitude and compassion. The two beings look at each other, and at this moment there is no sound.

The heron eagle is also there for the sake of the kitten’s survival. It brings fish to the kitten and even fights against its own kind to protect the kitten in a "hot-blooded act of justice." However, after watching the movie, I realized that this "intolerance" is actually the heron eagle's personal struggle. It differs from the values of the herd, adhering to its own principles while helping animals journey to the other side.

Not only does it adhere to its principles, but when the heron eagle finds that the animal group does not understand that some beings should not be helped, nor do they grasp the concept of "friend and foe," it realizes that only through personal experience can they truly understand. This realization leads the heron eagle to understand the necessity of "letting go."

In fact, from the behavior of the heron eagle, who stood by the kitten and led the others to the right path even though his fellow heron eagles had abandoned him and broken his wings, we know that this heron eagle is absolutely extraordinary. When it can lay down its life and forget about death not only for its own sake, but also for the sake of the foreigners who are not related to it, it shows that it has already jumped out of the dimension of its own kind and has taken on the nature of a god.

The movie touches on religion, philosophy. The plot is played out in a cycle of obsessive beings, and as the tide rises and ebbs, those who have attained enlightenment continue to do so, and those who are foolish continue to be foolish.

From watching the spirituality and habits of animals, one can also shine a light on human beings. Whether it is the loyal puppy, the money-hungry lemur, the sensitive and timid kitten searching for itself, or the naive water dolphin, they are all incredibly vivid. They all have their own characteristics, and none of them are perfect, just like human beings.