In 2020, a certain pandemic shut down the world. Many conventions and festivals, for their sake and for their fans, experimented with online-only events, at drastically reduced prices. The same was true for "Annecy," the world's largest animation film festival, held in France every Summer. They presented (most of) their 2020 selection online, all accessible with an "online pass" at about $30 USD, the price of perhaps two in-person films in normally sold-out theaters. I still hope to visit the real event one day, as a pilgrimage any animation fan should take as a tourist, but this online version is a great alternative that I hope remains."My Favorite War" is a 2020 animated documentary, a co-production between Latvia and Norway. Set during the Cold War, it describes the director's childhood experience growing up in Latvia, originally driven by German-occuplied Nazi politics, but then overtaken and absorbed as part of the Soviet Union. As a young girl, she lives a seemingly normal life, conflicted by the ideals of her family in these different eras, and of what was expected of her by the state. She watches television, reads magazines, and has aspirations to become a journalist. But she also has to help provide for her single mother (a loving father dies in a car crash early on), in a communist nation where no one owns anything, where property isn't allowed, and where food is rationed daily. A corrupt system that hides the crimes and history of the Nazi's in World War II, and flaws in the modern system.The point of view is a fascinating one. As a child growing up in this type of society, the little girl doesn't immediately see anything wrong with either system the country (or her family) was aligned with. The Soviet Union, as overbearing as it was, insisted in propaganda that it was achieving peace. And not having any reason (or opportunity) to argue otherwise, the girl aims to be a model student, leading her class in extracurricular activities that further promote Soviet ideals. To the average modern-day American, it would be horrifying to think of children being taught to live like this. But to those who actually lived it; it was normal. Cracks in the system slowly reveal themselves, and the girl gains the confidence to think for herself, eventually barring witness to a country-wide protest for the country to separate from the USSR, a sign of the Union's demise a few years later. It's a relief of an ending, and as an adult, the director reminisces about the memories and its context in the world's history in hindsight. 
I know nothing about Latvian history, and what I described here is what I interpreted from the movie, which may very well have been partially wrong due to my own lack of knowledge. The long Wikipedia page for the country's history was a bit too intimidating to answer my questions. If I understood "My Favorite War" correctly, it's an interesting and inspiring look at the history of a European nation, through the eyes of a child, an innocent with a very different perspective from those who have no business judging those from the period. The animation is decent, albiet limited, through what is primarily paper-puppet animation. I liked the visual design, with cute characters and large black eyes that further suit the childlike perspective of the world. Real images and video are interspersed to validate the shots, with the animated backgrounds based on real scenes. "My Favorite War" felt a lot like 2007's "Persepolis," telling a segment of a complex history of a country, from the eyes of a young girl as she comes of age, with a few moments of humor and horror. It deserves as much attention as that did. The movie's production values aren't as ambitious though, and like most documentaries, it isn't necessarily entertaining, and doesn't have a proper storyline with a beginning, middle and end, despite its attempts for one. It's a difficult movie to market, but the honesty elevates it, and those with any interest in the Soviet Union's history should find it fascinating.