In Taliban-controlled Kabul, a young girl named Parvana has to sell her best dress on the street with her father Nurullah. He's a former teacher and they're harassed by his former student Idrees turned Taliban. Idrees feels slighted and falsely accuses Nurullah. With her father in prison, Parvana has to dress as a boy to buy food and earn money for the family. Her writer mother is beaten for being in the streets without a male chaperon. Parvana is befriended by Shauzia, another girl who dresses as a boy and mentors her in the ways of the streets. To please her little brother, she tells him stories about a young boy on a quest against the Elephant King.

The animation is beautiful. The story is compelling. Parvana is an empathetic character in a real apocalyptic world. The fantasy tale is slow at first but it pays off by intertwining with her real world story. There is a real intensity in the build up and in the climatic reveal. The only drawback is that I hoped for a real Parvana to tell her own story. No matter how sincere the writing and how well the telling, it is in the end a second hand tale.