Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
Dir: Hayao Miyazaki
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087544/
I'm not a big fan of anime, but then, Miyazaki's work (or anything from Studio Ghibli, for that matter) never feels like anime. It's a brilliant film that just happens to be animated. The artwork is astounding, and Miyazaki's films are always full of imagination, creating a world that seems miles aways from ours, but reflects ours so well.
I really enjoy films with a dystopian theme, but they can fall into cliche territory easily, so it was interesting to see a spin put on the genre by marginalizing the human race. Having nature hold its grasp over us, rather than the other way around, was a breath of fresh air, and even though there is a similar struggle in Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, it still felt original here. This film is a good depection of the destructive nature of humans, and how far we will go to get what we feel is ours, as well as how far we will go to protect what we believe is ours, or to get revenge on those we feel have wronged us. Being a movie from the Mid-80's when the cold war was still being felt around the globe, I detected a little bit of allegorical reference to nuclear weaponry, regarding the Great Warrior, which the warring factions obviously wanted to use to their benefit, regardless of the implications towards the entire human race as they knew it.
This was a great piece of work - the only things I didn't really care for were the music (80's synth sounds were jarring at times, taking me away from the experience somewhat), and the Christ metaphor, although it wasn't really emphasized, and was done with tact, so I can let it slide.
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087544/
I'm not a big fan of anime, but then, Miyazaki's work (or anything from Studio Ghibli, for that matter) never feels like anime. It's a brilliant film that just happens to be animated. The artwork is astounding, and Miyazaki's films are always full of imagination, creating a world that seems miles aways from ours, but reflects ours so well.
I really enjoy films with a dystopian theme, but they can fall into cliche territory easily, so it was interesting to see a spin put on the genre by marginalizing the human race. Having nature hold its grasp over us, rather than the other way around, was a breath of fresh air, and even though there is a similar struggle in Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, it still felt original here. This film is a good depection of the destructive nature of humans, and how far we will go to get what we feel is ours, as well as how far we will go to protect what we believe is ours, or to get revenge on those we feel have wronged us. Being a movie from the Mid-80's when the cold war was still being felt around the globe, I detected a little bit of allegorical reference to nuclear weaponry, regarding the Great Warrior, which the warring factions obviously wanted to use to their benefit, regardless of the implications towards the entire human race as they knew it.
This was a great piece of work - the only things I didn't really care for were the music (80's synth sounds were jarring at times, taking me away from the experience somewhat), and the Christ metaphor, although it wasn't really emphasized, and was done with tact, so I can let it slide.
posted by will at
2:35 PM
