Schirkoa – In Lies We Trust Review: An Animation Film With Stunning Power

Schirkoa In Lies We Trust Review: The film achieves a level of creativity that no other Indian animated picture has ever approached

New Delhi: A bravura parable structured around a variety of crazy notions and defined by brilliant visual flare and precision, Schirkoa – In Lies We Trust is a remarkable animated picture. It is as powerful as cinema and as relevant as commentary. 

The 103-minute video blends 3D mo-cap and 2D technology to create a magical fusion of dystopian noir elements, sci-fi fantasy, and pressing contemporary issues. The expertly constructed, captivating film is punky, pulpy, and vulgar. It is simultaneously profound, political, and philosophical.

Written, written, and directed by debutant Ishan Shukla, the film, based on his much-awarded 2016 short fiction Schirkoa, maintains the equilibrium between opposing impulses without losing a beat.

Schirkoa – In Lies We Trust, which premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2024 on Sunday, is a significant step forward for Indian animation.

Free of the excesses and limitations of the Bollywood idiom and the devices of mythological epics, it stylishly juggles many provocative notions – the finiteness of resistance as a fuel for art, the irrelevance of rebels in a perfect world, sex as an antidote to thoughts of death, fear-mongering as a tool of oppression, and much more – and sprinkles them across an overarching story of an oppressed people seeking deliverance.

Schirkoa – In Lies We Trust is incredibly creative and expansive in terms of its color scheme, filmmaking style, and characters. It doesn’t rely on a confident male lead standing up for the weak. As he searches for a way out of a world that denies him the freedom to think and act, the hero is crippled by serious misgivings. He rarely does so voluntarily; instead, he charges into situations.  

The movie achieves a level of creativity that no other Indian animated picture has ever approached. It opens a door and ventures into a realm where creativity, imagination, and ingenuity come together to create an incredibly engaging experience.

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Golshifteh Farahani, Asia Argento, Soko, King Khan, John Sutton, and Denzil Smith make up the main voice cast, which is simply amazing. Guest stars Piyush Mishra, Gaspar Noe, Anurag Kashyap, Shekhar Kapur, Lav Diaz, and Karan Johar support it.

The superb background score by Sneha Khanwalkar brilliantly conveys the film’s constantly shifting emotions, which vary from somber and depressing to exuberant and defiant.

A number of deliciously evocative songs are added to the soundtrack by King Khan and his band, while Khanwalkar (who also provides the voice of a secondary character) penned and performed a couple of the songs.  

Schirkoa’s In Lies We Trust delves at the perils of blindly following false gods and the frenzied conformity that results from them. It looks into the nature of autocracy, the struggle against brainwashing, and the harsh application of oppressive laws.

The movie ends in a civilization that is imprisoned behind a framework that fears variety. Lawmakers mandate that people cover their heads with paper bags in order to obliterate their differences. They are constantly instilled with the concept, “To be alike is the way of life.”   

The protagonist, 197A (played by Shahbaz Sarwar and Tibu Fortes, who make their film debuts), is a rookie council member who falls in love with 242B (Farahani), a bold planner from the city of Schirkoa. She wants to get out of this nightmare. She begs her partner to accompany her. 

The hesitant and indecisive male protagonist chooses to stay and become a co-opt. His choice sets off a series of circumstances that take him into new territory and increase his awareness of the opportunities that may be found there.

Schirkoa, riding on the back of its protagonist, ventures into a new reality, bringing what lies outside the excessively controlled society that 197A and his like inhabit front and center. As the background shifts, so do the soundtrack, the film’s tone and texture, the hero’s speech, and his appearance.

Fears of dangerous immigrants camped out at the borders are fuelled by the administration. Spreading the legend of a city overrun by demonic refugees serves to restrain Schirkoans. Karan Johar’s voice is heard often reminding the populace that safety, sanity, and sanctity—Schirkoa’s “golden trio”—must be followed for the sake of the land’s wellbeing.

On her way out of Schirkoa, 242B wishes to catch a bus, which takes her into a colorful and chaotic world filled with eccentrics and rebels, a stark contrast to the muted colors worn by the browbeaten residents of Schirkoa. Piyush Mishra, an astrologer who offers predictions in ornate Hindi poetry, is a passenger on the bus.

Not less boisterous is the city of Konthaqa, where a mermaid named Lies (Asia Argento) is the showrunner and a crazy impresario named Mord (King Khan) gathers artists for a musical competition.

It’s not as though the Schirkoans, who are primarily portrayed as an ethereal being moving aimlessly all the time, have no idea what’s going on outside of their city or what lies are being told to keep them in line.

Street protests break out, agitated students stage rallies, an enigmatic female named Soko lurks in the shadows, and the city’s security guards go into action brandishing their weapons and batons.

The governing clique spreads the rumors about a legendary land of the free populated by people known as anomalies in an attempt to gain political advantage, but as the whisper campaign builds to a crescendo, the tactic backfires and talk of rebellion takes center stage.

The gripping, fun parable about oppression, authority, and people’s desire for individual freedom is alive and well. The movie immerses viewers in a fanciful world where pressing problems demand immediate response and incite seething resentment.    

Schirkoa – In Lies We Trust gets most of its strength from a plot that surprises a lot with regard to technology and applications. It is filmed in a video game engine, which gives it the ability to see in depth, have a sturdy framework, and maintain consistent control over the design features. Shukla has an amazing command of the medium. You’re left with a work of pure, astounding cinematic spunk when you combine that with the film’s abundant imagination. 

Cast:

Gaspar No., Asia Argento, Golshifteh Farahani

Director:

Shukla Ishan