The Wind Rises
Artists only are only creative for 10 years. Live your 10 years well, Japanese boy.
Part 1: How Best to Approach the Topic of Japan in World War II
The Wind Rises is a very tricky film to write about. Do you discuss Japan's WWII adventures? Do you discuss <PERSON> attempting a biopic? Do you see The Wind Rises as the logical conclusion to <PERSON>'s films as his thesis? Or don't you suppose that all three must be addressed? Yes, Japan was committing war crimes and palling around with the Nazis. Yes, their pride is plain to see whether or not you buy the propaganda on either side. But I will say that there is something to seeing Japan make films about their trauma even almost 80 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The nation itself may have rebuilt, but they never forgot what happened and why.
Part 2: <PERSON> the Romantic
Miyazaki has this romantic worldview he has never exactly shaken. <PERSON> is an optimist who dreams to design and engineer complex aircraft. But there's a catch. He is designing for a military-contracted firm. <PERSON> has made his positions on war quite clear in the past. Look at Porco Rosso and Howl's Moving Castle. But to see a film about a man who built war planes for the Axis Powers from him is a bit surprising from a certain sort of standpoint. But considering <PERSON>'s worldview, it also makes sense. <PERSON> is an artist, and as such, he tends to idolize things and people most people would question. 714
<PERSON> was an engineer for Japan in WWII, designing planes for the same army that would bomb Pearl Harbor among other things.
Part 3: "Japan will blow up."
The Americans would start bombing Japan in 1942 with the Doolittle Raid. Three years later, the Tokyo Raids. Five months later, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In a brief scene, a strange German visits <PERSON> and warns him that Japan and Germany will blow up as a sort of prophecy. Almost as if that strange man knew what would happen in 1945. You know what they say. Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Part 4: Epilogue
Even if I find its politics and worldview deserving of scrutiny, I cannot deny that The Wind Rises may be the most magnificent-looking traditionally animated film made after the downfall of traditional animation in the West. The use of the camera turns what would have been a semi-interesting live-action drama into something that can only be done in animation. And they didn't need one funny talking animal. Yes, The Wind Rises may be a biopic, but I did feel like I was actually learning something unlike some others I could mention. But what I admire about The Wind Rises is its commitment. It doesn't throw "that just happened" quips. Its optimistic tone even with graphic images like the 1923 Kanto Earthquake and <PERSON>'s lung hemorrhage are what helps the film. With The Boy and the Heron on the horizon in America, it's nice to know that there is a still an auteur in the world that doesn't take kindly to the latest trends. 711