The Wind Rises – PG-13

Running Time: 126 min

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Main Voice Actors (English): Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, and John Krasinski

Rating: 9

Though swimming in creative juices, The Wind Rises is essentially a biography of Jiro Horikoshi, the chief engineer of Japanese war plane designs during World War II; although the “biographical” part is highly fictionalized. Jiro (voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) grows up with a love for airplanes, but due to his eyesight he cannot fly one himself. He is inspired by dreams he shares with a famous Italian airplane designer, Caproni (voiced by Stanley Tucci), and sets to create planes himself. The film follows Jiro in his journey through times of turmoil and love. It is set primarily in Japan, though on occasion Jiro travels west to see new designs. Historically, the film includes the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 as well as the entire duration of World War II.

Thematically, this movie was not only daring, but revolutionary. Miyazaki is not particularly used to addressing historical events or personas specifically, and in general it is difficult to find a movie that successfully addresses historical events. Currently the film is going through fastidious debate in both Japan and the Western world. The largest debate is why Miyazaki chose to “draw a man who built killing machines” and viewed the character sympathetically. In an interview with Cut Magazine, Miyazaki addresses this problem by saying that he did initially struggle with the idea because of doubts coming from his wife and staff, “And I thought they were right. But one day, I heard that Horikoshi had once murmured, ‘All I wanted to do was to make something beautiful.’ And then I knew I’d found my subject.” Miyazaki said. I highly respect Miyazaki’s choice in topic, especially since I don’t believe it’s meant to reflect opinion on war, but sentiments towards the want to create something beautiful. Miyazaki finds this often through flight. In retrospect, the aeronautic themes throughout his films are rather prevalent, particularly in Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986), Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) and Porco Rosso (1992). Additionally, there is rarely any other Miyazaki film which does not include airborne characters, magical or otherwise.

My grandparents were stunned by the choice of music that Miyazaki implemented in the film, a sort of European ballad to freedom. The composer, Joe Hisaishi, seems to be a favorite of Miyazaki, and has done the scores for ten of his films including Laputa: Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro (1988) Spirited Away (2001), Howl’s Moving Castle, and Ponyo (2008). The soundtrack for The Wind Rises was given a Japan Academy Prize for Best Music Score. I suspect its success is due to its cooperation with the film’s visuals; they match each other in emotion and pace as if in a dance.

This film is a must watch, regardless of your views on war or airplane industries, this is a film focusing on the beauty of dreaming from a man who has thrived off of his dreams these many years.