The legendary works of directorHayao Miyazakiare some of the most imaginative and heartfelt films to have ever been projected onto the silver screen. The movies that he has directed and produced for Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation studio he co-founded alongside Isao Takahata and Toshio Suzuki, are some of the most beloved and applauded works of the 20th and 21st centuries. Whether it be the childlike wonder ofMy Neighbor TotoroandKiki’s Delivery Serviceor the epic fantasy ofNausicaä of the Valley of the WindandPrincess Mononoke, every film that Miyazaki has produced is some degree of excellent. Few filmmakers have as outstanding a filmography as he does.
Though the director has another film,How Do You Live?, set for release in mid-2023, the most recent film he has directed at this point isThe Wind Rises, which was released ten years ago. The film is an adaptation of several materials. Broadly speaking, it is a biopic about the life of Jiro Horikoshi, a Japanese airplane engineer from the second World War. However, the film is generally more-so inspired by Horikoshi’s story rather than a direct retelling of it, as Miyazaki also interwove an adaptation of Tatsuo Hori’s 1937 novelThe Wind Has Riseninto his story as well. Miyazaki first publishedThe Wind Risesas a manga in the late 2000s, before the film version of the story was released in 2013. He had initially intendedThe Wind Risesto be the last film he would direct before retirement. Now that it has been a decade since the film’s release and Miyazaki has returned with his latest final film set to release later this year, there’s no better time to revisit the director’s most human film to date.
Related:Nausicaä: A Look Back at Miyazaki’s First Masterpiece
Beautiful Animation and Score
As is commonplace with any film that comes from Studio Ghibli, the animation ofThe Wind Risesis utterly stunning. Visually, it is one of the most gorgeous films that Miyazaki has ever produced. The use of color in the film is arresting, as it is used to create natural landscapes that feel as real as they do otherworldly. What makes this visual feast all the more impressive is the fact thatThe Wind Risesis the least fantastical ofall Miyazaki’s works. While there are still some fantasy elements worked into the film, largely through the numerous dream sequences, the story itself is set in the real world. The story ofThe Wind Risesdoesn’t operate on magic, but rather with science and mathematics. With that, the visuals of the film aren’t upheld by the wondrous creatures and environments that Miyazaki can imagine. It’s all real landscapes, people, buildings and skies. Miyazaki embraces that challenge by capturing the beauty of nature through various indescribable hues of blue, green, orange, and just about every other color of the rainbow.
It’s no secret thatMiyazaki has a thing for flying. In nearly every one of his films, there’s a clear and explicit interest in flight, the sky, and the various creatures, natural or mechanical, that call it home.The Wind Risesis the film of his that most openly embraces this fascination. The story follows the character of Jiro Horikoshi as he designs and builds one aircraft after another. Throughout the film, the audience is immersed in the character’s enchantment with all things aerial. He dreams, both literally and figuratively, of creating the most beautiful planes that the world has ever seen. As a result,The Wind Risespresents some of the most incredible flight sequences of Miyazaki’s career. Whether it be the electrifying test flights of Horikoshi’s planes, or something as simple as a paper airplane thrown between two lovers, the film’s flight sequences are nothing short of exquisite, and they are a testament to the pure talent and wonder of Studio Ghibli’s animators, who draw everything by hand.
As for the music,The Wind Risesonce again teams up Miyazaki with his frequent collaborator Joe Hisaishi. Hisaishi has composed the scores for all of Miyazaki’s films sinceNausicaä of the Valley of the Windin 1984, and he is largely to credit forStudio Ghibli’s incredible musical reputation. Miyazaki and Hisaishi are one of the all-time best director-composer pairings, rivaling the likes of Steven Spielberg/John Williams and Christopher Nolan/Hans Zimmer. Across their numerous collaborations, Hisaishi has delivered scores that range from heavenly to bombastic and mystifying, but his work onThe Wind Risesmight top them all. It’s one of his most gentle and understated scores, which pairs well with the natural aesthetic of the film. It seamlessly flows from piano passages through to the sounds of acoustic guitars and string arrangements, with small accordion embellishments sprinkled throughout the whole thing. Together, Hisaishi’s music and the film’s animation come together to make for a cinematic experience that evokes feelings of peace, emotion and comfort within the audience.The Wind Riseshas that kind of tangible effect on the viewer, even without taking the story into account.
Related:The Best Anime Movies Not From Studio Ghibli
The Cost of Love and Life
The story ofThe Wind Risestakes the film beyond being one of Miyazaki’s most visually and audibly beautiful and makes it into one of the top productions of his entire career. By overlapping Horikoshi and Hori’s real stories, one of which is of an engineer whojust wanted to make his artdespite the dourness of the world around it and the other is of a man and his wife wanting to spend every minute together while she suffers with a terminal illness, Miyazaki crafts a powerful tale about the desperation of love. InThe Wind Rises, Horikoshi is a man whose love for the two most important things in his life, his wife and his work, is restricted by circumstances outside his control. He’s a simple, smart and nice guy, but the life he lives is often one of tragedy.
From the opening scene of the movie, Horikoshi’s love and fascination with flight and aircraft is palpable. He wants nothing more than to build these incredible machines that he believes are a testament to the ingenuity and innovation of mankind. He grew up in a world in which technology and engineering were evolving rapidly, and all he wanted was to contribute to it. He views designing and creating an aircraft in the same way that an artist views their work. He isn’t motivated by a paycheck, or by a need for recognition, but rather by the desire to bring something beautiful and new into the world. However, as he grows older, he goes to school, gets a job, and starts practicing his craft, only to find that the societal desire for his work is motivated by something very different. In the middle of the second World War, the only way he could chase his dreams and create the astounding feats of engineering that he envisioned was to make them for the war. He’s able to do what he always dreamed of, but only at the price of knowing that his planes will all be flown off for destructive and violent purposes.
As for his relationship with Nahoko, his wife, Horikoshi only desires to bring as much joy into her life as he can in the time that they have. She is sick with tuberculosis, and they are both aware that their time together is fleeting. Their love for one another is strong, but there’s nothing they can do to stop the tragedy that awaits them. As such, they choose to get married and live with each other for as long as time will allow. It’s a heartbreaking story, but instead of focusing on the sorrow of it, Miyazaki instead focusesThe Wind Riseson the love that is shared between the two of them. He takes what could have easily been a depressing tale of loss and instead makes it an inspiring story of love, optimism and devotion.
