The Most Precious of Cargoes
Seen it?2024 | 81 min | Animation, Drama, History
Weeknight WatchWhy it’s a Weeknight Watch
With almost no lasting buzz and soft box office, it's a mixed bag. Fine if it's on; don't plan your night around it.
Based on critics, audiences, awards, box office and buzz. Details below.Is it for you?
- Who'll love it
- Made for animation lovers and history buffs. If you loved The Zone of Interest or The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, start here.
- The mood
- Harrowing, feel-good.
- The pace
- Takes its time with its characters, at 1 hr 21 min.
- What might put you off
- No age rating on record, so check it first for young kids.
- It's in French, so expect subtitles (or a dub).
Once upon a time, a poor woodcutter and his wife lived in a great forest. Cold, hunger, poverty, and a war raging all around them meant their lives were very hard. One day, the woodcutter's wife rescues a baby. A baby girl thrown from one of the many trains that constantly pass through the forest. This baby, this "most precious of cargoes", will transform the lives of the poor woodcutter's wife and her husband, as well as those whose paths the child will cross—including the man who threw her from the train. And some will try to protect her, whatever the cost. Their story will reveal the worst and the best in the hearts of men.
How it earned its rating
- CriticsSolid
77% on Rotten Tomatoes, 57 on Metacritic
- AudiencesSolid
7.7 out of 10
- AwardsBelow par
Nominated for 1 Cannes award.
- Box office & staying powerBelow par
$4 million worldwide; still draws a steady audience long after release
- Buzz & cultural impactWeak
About 16K people sought it out in the past year
Trailer
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Cast & crew
Directed by Michel Hazanavicius
- Dominique BlancWife (voice)
- Grégory GadeboisWoodcutter (voice)
- Denis PodalydèsMan with the Broken Face (voice)
- Jean-Louis TrintignantNarrateur (voice)
- Serge HazanaviciusMan in the mole hat (voice)
- Antonin MaurelThe father (voice)
- Matej HofmannInterpreter (voice)
- Laurent BateauA fellow woodcutter (voice)
- Simon VolodineA fellow woodcutter (voice)
- Oleg ImbertA fellow woodcutter (voice)