Hayao Miyazaki was inspired to make The Wind Rises after reading this quote from Jiro Horikoshi (the Japanese aircraft designer whose life story is half-adapted, half-fictionalized in this animated film): All I wanted to do was to make something beautiful. And so he did. Miyazaki made a beautiful film both visually and spiritually. He knew the film would be politicized and attracted criticisms from both left and right wings. In any case, he would have been accused of beautifying the cause of war from one and being unpatriotic from another. What did he do? He made the film anyway. All he wanted to do was to make something beautiful.
It's hard to put down in words how I feel about this hand-drawn animated feature. While I watched a few of Miyazaki's previous films like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle, I don't considered myself familiar with his work, nor am I familiar with Japanese animation in general. But judging from the limited knowledge I do have, The Wind Rises is both very Miyazaki and un-Miyazaki at the same time, Yes, it sounds very complicated and confusing but it all boils down to two simple facts really:
(1) There is a love story surfacing whatever main themes or messages Miyazaki is trying to present. In all three of the aforementioned films and this new one, there is a young pure love playing at the center of the story. Miyazaki always envisions love as something so strong and powerful it can heal all ills and cure all curses. The love story in The Wind Rises, though gets sidelined to the dream and ambition of Jiro to build aircraft, is a strong one nevertheless. Nahoko's love for Jiro empowers him to excel in his aircraft design and finish building his first successful aircraft, and in turns Jiro's love for Nohoko gives her strength to fight her illness. But so often in Miyazaki's love stories that bittersweet is the default word to describe it. It's never twisted yet it's never simple as well. It very rare ends with "they lived happily ever after" like the default ending of every Disney animation. That's the trademark of Miyazaki.
(2) Magical element is a prominent theme running across all three of Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle. It was either a group of souls, demons and gods, or enchanted creatures. Miyazaki likes to disguise his love stories or whatever environmental and anti-war messages under the cloak of magic, and through these colorful characters we dive into his animated world. Not in The Wind Rises. This is a fictional biography of Jiro Horikoshi, and Miyazaki tells the story of his dream and his love for aviation (and for Nahoko) in a straight forward manner. No magic is involved in the realization of his dream. The only thing comes marginally close to a magic (though it is in fact not magical) is when Jiro supposedly "intrudes" into Italian plane designer Caproni's dream. This is how I define The Wind Rises as un-Miyazaki, and I think he makes the right decision not to incorporate magic into the tale, as a story like this needs no enchantment to enthrall us.
In the era of computer generated animation, the hand-drawn The Wind Rises is like a series of beautiful pictures played out in a slide show, accompanied by beautiful music. Yes, Frozen looks nice too but Disney's hand-drawn animation and Ghibli's hand-drawn animation are different. We can't really compare the two and tell which one we prefer. Disney's products are like heavy meals with everything so artificially pretty and colorful, while Ghibli's products are lighter in everything including the color palette thus making them easier to swallow.
I am not interested in the controversy behind the film. For all I know it does not beautify nor rationalize the cause of war. Jiro is an aircraft designer, and through Caproni's pyramid metaphor Miyazaki emphasizes that it's better to have beautiful things though sometimes people misuse them for the wrong and ugly cause. I would gladly put my focus on the love story and the dream chasing elements instead of wasting time on the meaningless war debate. Just like Jiro chooses a world with pyramids, I choose to have a world with the beauty of The Wind Rises.
The wind is rising, we must try to live.
Rating: A-
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