|
 ausicaa" (also known by the longer title,
"Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind") is based on the manga series
of the same name, written and drawn by the film's writer/director Hayao
Miyazaki. The story is set 1,000 years from now, in a so-called Ceramic Age,
where the human race is about ready to join the T-Rex on the extinction
list. We learn that in the distant past, at the peak of man's technological
prowess, he unleashed the apocalyptic Seven Days of Fire and laid waste to
the world. As a result, most of the planet is now uninhabitable to humans;
meanwhile, the Sea of Corruption, a teeming jungle of giant insects and
poisonous spore-emitting plant life, slowly sweeps across the planet in a
bid to make the rest of the planet equally uninhabitable to human life.
It also seems that the human race
hasn't learn its lesson, and are in fact still in the business of waging
wars, with conflicts amongst various nations and monarchies being the order
of the day. One neutral nation among the warring factions is the Valley of
the Wind, which sits near the ocean where wind currents keep the Sea of
Corruption at bay. The Valley of the Wind is ruled by Jihl, a bed-ridden old
man whose best days are behind him, but the heart and soul of the kingdom
resides in Jihl's daughter, the Princess Nausicaa.
The idyllic world of the Valley is disrupted when a
growing conflict between the nations of Tourmekia and Pejite literally
lands in their midst, in the form of a Tourmekian transport which crashes
following an excursion into the poisoned jungle. In an attempt to retrieve
precious cargo from the downed ship, Tourmekian gunships under the command
of Princess Kushana arrive, searching out the "egg" of a
legendary God-Soldier, one of the original giant manmade biomechanical
monsters responsible for the Seven Days of Fire. Forced to battle the
trespassers, Nausicaa and her people are swept up in a post-apocalyptic
Cold War that may spell doom for all of them.
It's hard to believe, but it's been twenty years
since "Nausicaa" was first released in 1984. The film holds up
remarkably well even today, and may be more prescient now than ever
before. Here's an anti-war movie that isn't heavy-handed or didactic, with
characters that are used to scrutinize the fanatical nationalism that led
Japan to ruin in World War II, a common theme among post-World War II
Japanese filmmakers. As embodied by the leaders of Tourmekia and Pejite,
"Nausicaa" is populated with men and women who would rather see
their own people dead before giving in to their enemy. And using the
movie's science-fiction/fantasy setting, Miyazaki is able to drive this
very personal point home without naming names.
Miyazaki's penchant for atypical and
stereotype-busting heroines began with the character of Nausicaa, who
remains the director's most enduring creation to this day. She's a
confident and decidedly feminine heroine with an affinity for children, as
well as possessing a near-psychic connection with animals. At the same
time, thanks to mentoring from master warrior Lord Yupa (who is still the
coolest swordsman ever seen in Japanese animation), Nausicaa is a
devastating and effective warrior forced into the role of leader after
Tourmekian commandos kill her father. Once thrust into the leadership
role, both aspects of her personality are tested as she becomes embroiled
in the growing violence between Pejite and Tourmekia.
"Nausicaa" is perhaps the most expansive
example of Miyazaki's skill at combining various cultural elements into a
single, hodge-podge world, something he would do again in "Laputa:
The Castle in the Sky" in 1986 and "Kiki's
Delivery Service" in 1989. (This particular style of Miyazaki's
no doubt also served as inspiration for 1987's "The
Wings of Honneamise"). In "Nausicaa", the Ceramic Age
is a time where warriors are equally at ease with submachine guns as they
are with broadswords, and peasants use oxen to tend the fields when
they're not cloud hopping in fusion-powered airships.
"Nausicaa" also previews themes that
Miyazaki would revisit in later films, such as his awareness of
environmental issues as reflected in the movie's plot, as well as a banner
for the World Wildlife Fund that serves as a pre-title card. Miyazaki
depicts the magic of flight in spectacular action sequences that are as
dazzling today as they were in 1984, and the image of Nausicaa piloting
her jet-powered glider, the "mehve," is an anime icon as
instantly identifiable as the fuzzy-cute totoros from Miyazaki's "My
Neighbor Totoro". With all due respect to the Oscar that "Spirited
Away" snagged, this is unquestionably the high point of
Miyazaki's remarkable career.
Unfortunately there's no denying that
"Nausicaa" is a 20-year-old movie, and to contemporary fans, the
visuals show their age and may even seem quaint. The character designs,
especially in facial details, are not as detailed or polished as seen in
more recent productions from Miyazaki's own Studio Ghibli. Also, the
animation at times comes off a bit uneven and choppy, especially in grand
expansive scenes depicting large moving elements.
But even though Miyazaki was working within very
limited animation boundaries, there are still some very impressive visuals
on display, chief among them being the unique "sliding cel"
style of animating highly detailed cels depicting the giant O(h)mus. If
anything, "Nausicaa's" dynamic visuals are more impressive than
ever when considering the limited resources and technology available to
animation filmmakers of the time. For a movie made in 1984,
"Nausicaa" is still very much ahead of its time.
|
