"Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned, and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we cannot eat money."
— Opening quote
Four Souls of Coyote (Hungarian: Kojot negy lelke) is a 2023 Hungarian animated adventure drama film co-written and directed by Aron Gauder. It was produced by Cinemon Entertainment and funded by National Film Institute Hungary. Since its release in March 2023, the film has run in international festivals to wide acclaim. It’s also garnered numerous awards, the most prominent being the Jury Award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and the Golden Goblet Award for Best Animation Film at the Shanghai International Film Festival. The film was also nominated in the Best Animated Feature — Independent category at the Annie Awards and was selected as Hungary’s entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 96th Academy Awards.
The story concerns the Native American creation myth with the Framing Device of a group of teenagers protesting the construction of an oil pipeline that would cut through a holy mountain. The mountain in question is the home of Old Man Creator, who brought the land and its many animals into existence. Unintentionally, he also brings into existence Coyote, who upends the natural order by desiring meat instead of grass and doing whatever he deems necessary to satiate his hunger and other urges.
Four Souls has been slated for an extended festival run into the spring of 2024, after which will be released in cinemas in certain countries. It will be theatrically released in France in April, and Juno Films will act as distributor in the United States in late spring – early summer. Interestingly, a Spanish dub of the film was released on the streaming service Movistar Plus+ on March 5, 2024. Likewise, it's now available on Filmio, Hungary's own streaming service.
The film’s website can be found here in both English and Hungarian: https://www.4soulsofcoyote.com/
Examples:
- Balloon Belly: Coyote gets this when he eats the ducks he’s killed. He later has a smaller version of this trope after he eats the fish Hoksila has caught.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Considering that they grew up together as the first humans, this is implied to be the case with Hoksila and Wichincala.
- Clean, Pretty Childbirth: Averted when Wichincala gives birth to her son. The birth is depicted so realistically that the baby comes out with a placenta still attached to his umbilical cord!
- Corrupt the Cutie: Coyote does this to the human babies by introducing them to meat, which is forbidden by Old Man Creator.
- Death Equals Redemption: As Coyote charges into the armed calvary, he perishes in the process. However, Old Man Creator sees the last of the dog’s souls ascend into the heavens to create a constellation of sorts, hinting at Coyote’s redemption.
- Do Not Go Gentle: When the Indian village gets attacked by the calvary, Hoksila refuses to back down despite Coyote’s pleas. This ends up costing Hoksila his life, as he’s almost immediately shot in the heart. Moments later, an outraged Coyote follows suit when he takes out the commander and subsequently charges into the cavalry.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: After Coyote revives for the third and last time, he calls everyone out for having a place in the Great Circle while he has none. He claims to have created great things, to which Old Man Creator berates him for creating evil and discord in his wake.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: Coyote has this when he hulks out and faces the cavalry head-on, even taking out the commander in the process.
- Face Death with Dignity: Hoksila is perfectly willing to do this when the cavalry invades his village. After Hoksila does indeed perish in the battle, Coyote has a One-Winged Angel transformation and makes a Heroic Sacrifice by trying to take out the cavalry.
- Eviler than Thou: The white people are depicted as this when Coyote tries to enlist their help in his revenge scheme against Old Man Creator. After they trap Lightning in a literal bottle and use him for their weapons, they then invade Coyote’s homeland and kill the natives standing in their way. This is enough to incite a Heel–Face Turn in Coyote, who is no saint himself.
- Growling Gut: Coyote has this when he sees the ducks swimming in the pond.
- Heel–Face Turn: All throughout the movie, Coyote commits atrocious deeds just to placate his hunger and other desires. He even goes so far as to invent killing by tricking the ducks and later Tatanka, and trying to assault Wichincala and eat her baby! However, his turning point occurs when he travels to Britain to gain their assistance in his revenge against Old Man Creator. He realizes too late that the British intend to invade his land and take it as their own. His turn is complete when – in the face of Hoksila’s death at the cavalry’s hands – he assumes Super Mode and charges straight into the soldiers, dying in the process.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Both Hoksila and Coyote do this while trying to protect the Indians from the cavalry.
- Hulking Out: What Coyote does when Hoksila dies during the climactic battle.
- It's All My Fault: Having been responsible for bringing the white soldiers to the land, Coyote admits this when he runs to Old Man Creator for help during the climax of the film.
- Light Is Not Good: The white people are this in contrast to their Native counterparts. Lightning is also seen as this because he incinerates everything he touches. At the end of the movie, Coyote becomes this to the cavalry when he gains his white-coated Super Mode and attacks the commander.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Old Man Creator and Coyote both have this moment:
- Reacting to Tatanka’s murder, Old Man creates Lightning in his rage. Said creation soon grows out of control and starts a fire on the plains. Old Man is horrified by what he sees and orders Lightning to stop before he’s forced to rope him to the mountaintop.
- Coyote is startled when he realizes that instead of helping him get revenge on Old Man, the British want to invade his land and plunder its resources. When he is clapped in irons aboard one of their ships, he is visibly ashamed and guilt-ridden. The feeling worsens once the cavalry starts shooting cannonballs at the Indian village.
- One-Winged Angel: Coyote does this when he becomes fueled by grief and rage at Hoksila’s death and subsequently charges at the cavalry as well as certain death. His coat becomes white, his mutilated ears and missing teeth regenerate, and he grows more fur on his neck and upper torso.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Old Man Creator gives one to Coyote for all of the harm the canine has done to the world.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: For selling out his homeland to the British, Coyote is clapped in chains by the people he had hoped to make his allies, and forced to lead the soldiers to the Indian camp.
- Summon Bigger Fish: Coyote hopes to do this by telling the British about his homeland as revenge for being banished by Old Man Creator. However, it goes sideways when the British trap his companion Lightning in a bottle and use him for their weapons.
- Super Mode: Coyote has a white-coated version of this when Hoksila dies during the battle with the cavalry.
- Those Wily Coyotes: Coyote is a trademark example of this trope.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Both Old Man Creator and Coyote can be pinned for this:
- When Tatanka is killed by Coyote’s paws, Old Man Creator grows so enraged that he creates Lightning from his anger. This unfortunately starts a fire in the plains, for which Old Man has to conjure rain to put out. Lightning’s existence later leads to the British using him for their weapons and thus results in wanton destruction. A more covert example involves Old Man’s dream about Coyote. If
Word of God is to be believed about Coyote representing the subconscious, this would mean that Old Man’s attempt to separate himself from his desires causes his design for the world to be thrown off in the first place. - Coyote himself becomes one when he travels to Britain with Lightning to seek assistance for their revenge against Old Man Creator. Instead of helping him, however, the British intend to conquer his home and claim it as their own. They even use his companion for their weapons to demolish the land and eliminate those in their way.
- Both can be attributed to the creation of the white man: Coyote creates the white man as a clay figure and discards it for being a failure, and Old Man throws said figure into the ocean, thus allowing it to end up in England.
- When Tatanka is killed by Coyote’s paws, Old Man Creator grows so enraged that he creates Lightning from his anger. This unfortunately starts a fire in the plains, for which Old Man has to conjure rain to put out. Lightning’s existence later leads to the British using him for their weapons and thus results in wanton destruction. A more covert example involves Old Man’s dream about Coyote. If
- Villain Protagonist: Despite being the titular character, Coyote is far from heroic. As he is arguably the personification of Old Man Creator’s subconscious desires, most of his actions are driven purely by his wants and feelings. He even goes so far as to invent killing just to get his paws on meat. However, this is eventually subverted when Coyote has a Heel–Face Turn following his betrayal of his homeland to the British, who want to conquer it instead of help him get revenge for his banishment. His last act sees him retaliating against the cavalry and dying at point-blank.
- Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: Coyote has this in spades with his eye color and penchant for manipulation.
- Nothing is eternal but the Earth and the mountains.
