Sita Sings the Blues (2008)

Sita Sings the Blues may be animated but it isn't your typical animated film. Employing no less than five animation styles, kids can get some entertainment out of it. But it will be appreciated more so by an adult audience.

The story is a retelling of the Indian epic Ramayana interspersed with a bit of writer/director/animator/voice actor/producer/editor/production designer Nina Paley's tragic real-life story of rejection. In fact, making the movie was Paley's coping mechanism. And it was no light undertaking.

Even though I'm not a big fan of the wiggle-style animation, along with the other four styles employed, it shows Paley's wide talent range as well as keeps the visuals interesting. Another interesting choice comes in the three shadow puppet narrators who keep the tone conversational. They're figuring out the story as much as telling it as they go along. These narrators, Aseem Chhabra, Bhavana Nagulapally, and Manish Acharya, were not scripted at all so their hearing slightly different versions of the story growing up is what leads to corrections and much of the levity they provide. It's important to note that Paley's making no claims that the version of the Ramayana she shows is the definitive one. This is her story told with and through the epic.

The use of Annette Henshaw jazz music from the 1920s as the voice of Sita provides humor, moves the story along, and gives Sita's plight a timelessness. Paley made so many more clever, tongue-in-cheek additions - ranging from a tribute to old Hollywood musicals and Bollywood through a 3-minute intermission that features characters walking across the screen to get concessions to adding "Bam!" cartoon explosions to a fight sequence a la live-action TV Batman to a "follow the bouncing ball" first half review song.

With so many elements this project could have become a mess, but Paley pieced it together fabulously. What's more, she wanted it to be accessible to everyone. Sita Sings the Blues has a Creative Commons Share Alike license, which means anyone is free to broadcast the movie at any time. It's available for free online to watch and to download. See Sitasingstheblues.com for more information.

Rating: 4/5
Recommended for: Anyone who's ever been rejected or could use some art in their life