NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND (1984), dir. Hayao Miyazaki
A Princess Stuck in the Valley of the Suck
Quite possibly the best animated film made during the 1980’s, “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind” crosses science fiction with war scenes of palpable emotional impact. The end result is more ambitious than expected, as the movie reflects on the hypocrisy of war, and mankind’s capacity of terrible acts during times of conflict. Even without too much graphic human suffering, “Nausicaa…” leaves a mark the way “Apocalypse Now” and “The Deer Hunter” left theirs. Yes, the movie also contains flying airships, strange creatures, and psychic powers, but writer/director Hayao Miyazaki merely uses them as context for the issue that’s really preoccupying him.
The movie takes place one thousand years after a fiery cataclysm decimates humanity. All remnants of the human race have dispersed, and a “Toxic Jungle” serves a natural barrier between nations. This enchanted forest contains giant insects, trees that would dwarf the redwoods, and plants that release strange white spores. Inhaling the spores over long periods of time can prove fatal, as the people of the Valley of the Wind, who used to live closer to the “Toxic Jungle,” know all too well.
In hopes of finding a cure for the lethal powders produced by the flora, Princess Nausicaa, pride and joy of her people, makes regular journeys to the “Toxic Jungle.” A top gun behind the controls of her jet ski/hang glider hybrid, the princess is even more likable for how much she clearly cares about her subjects. When she stumbles across the abandoned shell of an Ohm, an elephantine mollusk whose shell features translucent skylights for “eyes,” Nausicaa’s first thoughts have to do with the potential benefits for the valley. Unfortunately, casual activities such as this, and saving her friend from a ticked-off insect that chases him halfway across an adjacent desert, eventually give way to a more serious story. Very soon, war arrives at the doorstep of her home.
The kingdom of Tolmekia does not formally declare war on the Valley of the Wind. However, some very important cargo crashes down nearby, and their army rushes in to secure it. The siege leaves Nausicaa’s father, the king, murdered, and her people inducted into the Tolmekians’ master plan. Unfortunately, Tolmekia’s main enemy, another relatively advanced kingdom called Pejite, cannot separate unwitting foes from genuine ones, so they plan to wipe out the entire valley using a very clever strategem.
Miyazaki, who has addressed the topic of war in other features (most recently, “Howl’s Moving Castle”), paints the conflict in “Nausicaa…” as a potentially endless cycle of atrocities. Ironically, those who inflict there terrible deeds, the director argues, sincerely believe that humanity will benefit from their actions. For example, the Tolmekians plan to use the cargo, which they stole from Pejite, to destroy the “Toxic Jungle” once and for all. The way Princess Kushana, the officer in charge of the Tolmekian army, sees it, the forest must be destroyed, or mankind will spend the rest of eternity living at the mercy of the insects.
On the flipside, Pejite is ready to unleash a glowing, red-eyed Hell upon the Valley of the Wind. Their main purpose, however, isn’t preventing their rival’s machinations, but getting the cargo back, so they can level the “Toxic Jungle” themselves. Like the Tolmekians, Pejite also wants to return mankind to its former, loftier position. However, they are deathly afraid of Tolmekia being the sole possessor of a power as destructive as that cargo. To Nausicaa, who spends time as a prisoner of both kingdoms, the mutual willingness to kill innocents to achieve a goal makes Tolmekia and Pejite equals in her eyes. But Asbel, a vengeful young pilot/prince from Pejite, takes umbrage. “All the Tolmekians want is to take over the world,” he says. “We are nothing like them.” His words only serve to underscore his naivete. After all, since when does any participant in a war not view themselves in a superior moral light compared to the enemy?
Luckily, Miyazaki constantly reminds the audience what “fighting a just war” really implies. As the conflict between the two nations draws in creatures from the “Toxic Jungle,” it’s the weak who suffer most, while those in power get to indulge their most sadistic impulses. Whether it’s images of women and children huddled together, hungry and scared, while the menfolk prepare war plans; the old adage “burning a village in order to save it” brought to startling reality for heroes returning home; a battlefield littered with the corpses of soldier dragonflies (an allegorical shot that’s just as potent as what Miyazaki intended them to represent); or, most appallingly, a display of near-unbearable cruelty visited upon an innocent life for the expressed purpose of stirring up its comrades, trust that in “Nausicaa…,” war contains enough pain for everyone, regardless of gender, age, or species.
Indeed, like most modern war movies, “Nausicaa…” is a veritable minefield of moral transgressions. Even the titular heroine commits one. It’s out of character, of course; through most of the movie, she shows nothing less than absolute respect towards all living things. This one action becomes a blemish, something she spends the rest of the movie trying desperately to redeem. Interestingly, Miyazaki won’t excuse her simply because it is wartime. Human beings are not animals, he seems to be arguing. Our ability to rationalize, to accept the complexities of a given situation, sets us apart from the beasts, who are slaves to their baser instincts.
These baser instincts, such as the need for revenge, cause Nausicaa’s people to take up arms against the Tolmekian invaders. It seems that their doomed airship carried spores from the “Toxic Jungle,” spelling the end for a beloved orchard. Can Nausicaa save her people’s souls, lest they become beasts, or worse, standard-issue characters from a war flick? Miyazaki’s other films during the same decade (“Castle in the Sky,” “Kiki's Delivery Service”) tended towards happy resolutions, so don’t expect the writer/director to deviate this time, either, even if that makes “Nausicaa…” less tragic, and radically different, from quite possibly every war epic that came before.
Overall rating: **** (out of ****)
Quite possibly the best animated film made during the 1980’s, “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind” crosses science fiction with war scenes of palpable emotional impact. The end result is more ambitious than expected, as the movie reflects on the hypocrisy of war, and mankind’s capacity of terrible acts during times of conflict. Even without too much graphic human suffering, “Nausicaa…” leaves a mark the way “Apocalypse Now” and “The Deer Hunter” left theirs. Yes, the movie also contains flying airships, strange creatures, and psychic powers, but writer/director Hayao Miyazaki merely uses them as context for the issue that’s really preoccupying him.
The movie takes place one thousand years after a fiery cataclysm decimates humanity. All remnants of the human race have dispersed, and a “Toxic Jungle” serves a natural barrier between nations. This enchanted forest contains giant insects, trees that would dwarf the redwoods, and plants that release strange white spores. Inhaling the spores over long periods of time can prove fatal, as the people of the Valley of the Wind, who used to live closer to the “Toxic Jungle,” know all too well.
In hopes of finding a cure for the lethal powders produced by the flora, Princess Nausicaa, pride and joy of her people, makes regular journeys to the “Toxic Jungle.” A top gun behind the controls of her jet ski/hang glider hybrid, the princess is even more likable for how much she clearly cares about her subjects. When she stumbles across the abandoned shell of an Ohm, an elephantine mollusk whose shell features translucent skylights for “eyes,” Nausicaa’s first thoughts have to do with the potential benefits for the valley. Unfortunately, casual activities such as this, and saving her friend from a ticked-off insect that chases him halfway across an adjacent desert, eventually give way to a more serious story. Very soon, war arrives at the doorstep of her home.
The kingdom of Tolmekia does not formally declare war on the Valley of the Wind. However, some very important cargo crashes down nearby, and their army rushes in to secure it. The siege leaves Nausicaa’s father, the king, murdered, and her people inducted into the Tolmekians’ master plan. Unfortunately, Tolmekia’s main enemy, another relatively advanced kingdom called Pejite, cannot separate unwitting foes from genuine ones, so they plan to wipe out the entire valley using a very clever strategem.
Miyazaki, who has addressed the topic of war in other features (most recently, “Howl’s Moving Castle”), paints the conflict in “Nausicaa…” as a potentially endless cycle of atrocities. Ironically, those who inflict there terrible deeds, the director argues, sincerely believe that humanity will benefit from their actions. For example, the Tolmekians plan to use the cargo, which they stole from Pejite, to destroy the “Toxic Jungle” once and for all. The way Princess Kushana, the officer in charge of the Tolmekian army, sees it, the forest must be destroyed, or mankind will spend the rest of eternity living at the mercy of the insects.
On the flipside, Pejite is ready to unleash a glowing, red-eyed Hell upon the Valley of the Wind. Their main purpose, however, isn’t preventing their rival’s machinations, but getting the cargo back, so they can level the “Toxic Jungle” themselves. Like the Tolmekians, Pejite also wants to return mankind to its former, loftier position. However, they are deathly afraid of Tolmekia being the sole possessor of a power as destructive as that cargo. To Nausicaa, who spends time as a prisoner of both kingdoms, the mutual willingness to kill innocents to achieve a goal makes Tolmekia and Pejite equals in her eyes. But Asbel, a vengeful young pilot/prince from Pejite, takes umbrage. “All the Tolmekians want is to take over the world,” he says. “We are nothing like them.” His words only serve to underscore his naivete. After all, since when does any participant in a war not view themselves in a superior moral light compared to the enemy?
Luckily, Miyazaki constantly reminds the audience what “fighting a just war” really implies. As the conflict between the two nations draws in creatures from the “Toxic Jungle,” it’s the weak who suffer most, while those in power get to indulge their most sadistic impulses. Whether it’s images of women and children huddled together, hungry and scared, while the menfolk prepare war plans; the old adage “burning a village in order to save it” brought to startling reality for heroes returning home; a battlefield littered with the corpses of soldier dragonflies (an allegorical shot that’s just as potent as what Miyazaki intended them to represent); or, most appallingly, a display of near-unbearable cruelty visited upon an innocent life for the expressed purpose of stirring up its comrades, trust that in “Nausicaa…,” war contains enough pain for everyone, regardless of gender, age, or species.
Indeed, like most modern war movies, “Nausicaa…” is a veritable minefield of moral transgressions. Even the titular heroine commits one. It’s out of character, of course; through most of the movie, she shows nothing less than absolute respect towards all living things. This one action becomes a blemish, something she spends the rest of the movie trying desperately to redeem. Interestingly, Miyazaki won’t excuse her simply because it is wartime. Human beings are not animals, he seems to be arguing. Our ability to rationalize, to accept the complexities of a given situation, sets us apart from the beasts, who are slaves to their baser instincts.
These baser instincts, such as the need for revenge, cause Nausicaa’s people to take up arms against the Tolmekian invaders. It seems that their doomed airship carried spores from the “Toxic Jungle,” spelling the end for a beloved orchard. Can Nausicaa save her people’s souls, lest they become beasts, or worse, standard-issue characters from a war flick? Miyazaki’s other films during the same decade (“Castle in the Sky,” “Kiki's Delivery Service”) tended towards happy resolutions, so don’t expect the writer/director to deviate this time, either, even if that makes “Nausicaa…” less tragic, and radically different, from quite possibly every war epic that came before.
Overall rating: **** (out of ****)
Labels: ****, 1984, animated, Hayao Miyazaki
posted by Phil | 4:57 AM
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