In July, the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care report was released. The report Whanaketia – Through pain and trauma, from darkness to light gives voice to the experiences of victims and survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care.

Memoir of a Snail also gives voice to the vulnerability of children in state care.

Delightfully plotted, cleverly produced and rich in metaphor, the film centres on the resilience of survivors. Director Adam Elliot describes himself as a clayographer, a mixer of clay animation and human biography.

Elliot is a genius. In the days following my viewing the movie, I kept seeing new connections. Like clay, Elliott delightfully twists characters and scenes from early in the movie into new and interesting shapes as the animation unfolds.

Grace Pudel (voiced by Sarah Snook) is born with a cleft lip. Bullied at school, she is protected by her twin, Gilbert Pudel (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee) and finds solace in her growing collection of snails. Their parents die and the twins are placed in state care.

Grace finds herself in Canberra, experiencing neglect from an increasingly absent childless couple. Gilbert is sent to Western Australia, becoming an indentured farm labourer for a close-knit and religiously intense family.

Grace meets Pinky (voiced by Jacki Weaver), who has also experienced state neglect as an orphaned child. Gilbert communicates with Grace by letters. Between the words, we glimpse rising levels of religiously motivated abuse.

Whanaketia, the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care report, makes specific mention of how faith-based groups can uniquely abuse the vulnerable in their care. Religious communities have hierarchical structures and invest moral authority in religious leaders. Religious beliefs can be used to silence survivors.

The genius of Memoir of a Snail is what happens when biographies are animated. Rather than blame individuals, the patterns in the clay speak to structural, cultural and theological processes. The movie’s clayography demonstrates the need for reform as it sheds light on how conditions of isolation and theologies that demean the body breed abuse.

The Sunday following my watching of Memoir of a Snail was Safeguarding Sunday, a national campaign to create and maintain safe environments for all people. In the UK, the Sunday is resourced by a safeguarding charity Thirtyone:eight. They draw their name from Proverbs 31:8 and the call for those in leadership to care for the vulnerable. Safeguarding Sunday offers a vision of care not located in tick-box checklists but in a practical theology of love.

Watch Memoir of a Snail. Then check out the resources from Thirtyone:eight at www.safeguardingsunday.org. The sermons and study guides, children's resources, videos and prayers encourage communities and leaders to enhance structures and cultures, and share theologies that centre care for the vulnerable.

The resources are one practical way to respond to Memoir of a Snail’s clayography and to embrace the survivors’ dreams for the future of the church voiced in Whanaketia:

“In faith-based institutions, leaders providing pastoral care reflect the diversity of their communities and expression of that diversity is welcomed. Respect for te Tiriti o Waitangi, human rights for all people and freedom of belief simultaneously flourish.”

Rev Dr Steve Taylor is the author of "First Expressions" (2019) and writes widely in theology and popular culture, including regularly at www.emergentkiwi.org.nz.