just got back from seeing Hayao Miyazakis THE WIND RISES, which the master animator claims will be his final film. While, like everyone, I hope this does not prove to be the case, if it is, then its a powerful and fitting final statement. A highly fictionalised account of the creative and personal struggles of the brilliant aeronautical engineer Jiro Horikoshi, it is a heartfelt - and heartbreaking - exploration of how idealistic and poetic dreams become corrupted and exploited by reality. Miyazakis Jiro is a romantic, who wishes to create something beautiful, the perfect, graceful flying machine. He takes as his motto a line from a poem by Paul Valery Le vent se lève!... Il faut tenter de vivre! (the wind is rising, try to live!), which also provides the films bitterly ironic title. Because Jiro is working on his plane during the 1930s, as Japan becomes increasingly militarised. Because the beautiful plane he builds is used for... well, whats the Japanese word that translates as the Divine Wind? Yep. Thats the one. Even if you know nothing about the real Jiro Horikoshi (and I confess I didnt), its clear very early on that this quest for flight is not going to end well. But Miyazaki adds additional tragedy to Jiros life - an ill-fated romance, which far from being corny, only emphasises what he sacrifices to his obsession. Its a magnificent film, that does not sugar coat or sanitise its complex and conflicted protagonist: yes, hes a romantic, a dreamer, and as a creator himself besotted with flight, Miyazaki identifies with him as such, but hes also an obsessive, who pursues a dream he is increasingly aware will be used for ends he finds monstrous. Miyazakis choice of the Valery poem as the films recurring motif is significant. Miyazaki the pacifist, the humanist sees the beauty of what Jiro created; rejecting and condemning the notion of the Divine Wind, the wind of destruction and devastation, in favour of Life. Masterful.
Posted on: Thu, 22 May 2014 21:02:36 +0000