The Wind Rises

Dir: Hayao Miyazaki

2013

*****

The Wind Rises is a glorious addition to the Studio Ghibli collection but also a sad one, as this is to be the last film directed by studio founder, Hayao Miyazaki, who has arguably made the best of the Ghibli films and is one of the world’s greatest animators. The Wind Rises is a fictionalised biopic of Dr. Jiro Horikoshi who designed aircraft in Japan, most famously the Mitsubishi A6M Zero that was used by the army in the Second World War. The Jiro in the film designs aircraft for the armed forces but is totally against War, this was true in life but is where the similarity ends. It's an odd thing to do really, making a fictitious biography of a real person but ethics aside, it truly is something wonderful and never defamatory. There is a dreamlike peace about Hayao Miyazaki's films and never so much as in his final masterpiece. As with many of his film, this was a huge passion of the great directors, one that turned into something of an obsession, the pressure of it being his last film only emphasising his person strain (captured in the fascinating Ghibli documentary The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness). His passion of airplanes comes from his father who built aircraft and can be seen in many of his past films. It is as visually stunning as you'd expect from the studio, a little like Porco Rosso in style (although Miyazaki has since stated that he dislikes the film), aviation being an obvious passion of the director. However, the usual mystical fantasy and playful style of the director is absent in his last film, this is one of the serious Ghibli films, which aren't always the most popular. There is a strong element of fantasy though, instead of mythical creatures we have Giovanni Battista Caproni, another real aircraft designer and possible influence on Horikoshi. Both designers meet in each other’s dreams and dance along the wings of their own aircraft. This is pure Miyazaki fantasy and him, for the very last time, exploring the balance of reality and fantasy quite perfectly. His swansong is an unsurprising masterpiece but didn’t come without controversy. It is seen as being an anti-war film, which in many respects it is and Miyazaki’s outspoken disdain for Prime Minister Shinzo has seen him ridiculously labelled a traitor. To his worldwide legion of fans he will be sadly missed but what a wonderful legacy he has left.