"Dar Saaye Sarv" is an animated short film shot in Iran, which won the Oscar for Best Animated Short in 2025. The entire film is only 20 minutes long, has no dialogue, and its animation style is quite different from the American and Japanese animations we are familiar with, being more abstract and with exaggerated character proportions.
The storyline mainly revolves around the male protagonist who, after losing his wife in the war, falls into self-blame and struggles to coexist with his only daughter. The daughter runs away from home, sees a stranded whale, and tries various ways to save it. The protagonist also comes to help, but their efforts are too small. The protagonist returns to his boat while the daughter continues to assist the whale by watering it and laying down cloths. In the end, the protagonist sinks his boat to pull the whale back to the sea. The daughter discovers that the whale has been saved, comes to see that her father's boat has sunk, but cannot find her father.
Such animated shorts often contain metaphors. Personally, I feel that the stranded whale symbolizes the protagonist's inner turmoil. The daughter tries everything to help him, but this psychological issue requires him to bravely face it himself and let go of his obsessions, allowing the past to be the past, looking forward again, and not lingering or constantly looking back. Only then can he gain a new life and allow those around him to find relief as well.