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Rating: "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind"
Mandatory things to say:
A) I chose to write this review following the DeBaserian discussion on "Mononoke-Hime" centered on what is the masterpiece of the Master, for me it is this one.
B) For years, this film was invisible in Italy by choice of the State TV, which acquired the rights, only to then broadcast it ignominiously in episodes (and let me say with cuts and an adaptation worthy of denunciation...) over several afternoons in the early '90s.
C) The Film is from 1984 and it is based on the manga of the same name from '82 (or something like that) by Miyazaki himself, it lasts 117 minutes and in my opinion, from a design perspective, it is the highest point of the Master's entire production (and probably not only).
It has been 1000 years since the Seven Days of Fire, a terrifying nuclear war caused by gigantic semi-human and semi-robot monsters created by humanity that rebelled against it, this war caused an immense natural catastrophe that disrupted the planet's ecological balance and created an immense toxic jungle that, due to radioactive spores and huge mutant insects, is uninhabitable. At the edges of this jungle, humans have reorganized into various cities that live in a state suspended between antiquity and some technological legacy that remains intact. One day, an Android Giant is casually discovered, and two of these cities engage in a bloody war for its possession.
Nausicaa is the princess of the Valley of the Wind, one of the surviving kingdoms. She travels with her beautiful flying machine and has a true passion for respecting nature and ecology, and because of this, she becomes involved in the conflict...
As in almost all of his films, in this second feature film of his, one can note Hayao Miyazaki's passion for Nature and the enormous respect for it. In fact, "Nausicaa" is a moving parable on the importance of seeking a balance between man and nature and an optimistic fairy tale about how kindness of heart and forgiveness can even repair the gravest damage. A metaphor where, in reality, no character is completely evil or completely good (except for the protagonist, described as a pacifying element) and where evil arises only as a reaction to a destiny caused by terrible past mistakes and is never an end in itself, even in the most questionable elements. In short, it's a beautiful story, told with the Master's typically almost traditionalist drawing style (which is so dear to us) and, in my humble opinion, with the most beautiful backgrounds ever created without the aid of computer graphics. Furthermore, the beautiful soundtrack created by Joe Hisaishi deserves attentive listening.
I would like to express a very personal opinion at the end regarding the presence of the atomic catalyst in almost all post-war Manga (and consequently Anime).
It is quite obvious that the traumatic component of such a grave event as the two atom bombs of '45 left wounds so open that they inspired an almost mythological universe (especially from the '70s onward). However, at least in Miyazaki's work, I do not perceive aspects of revenge, as some critics (especially in the States...) would have us believe, but to overuse a now overinflated term, I see almost only cathartic aspects (I swear I won't use it anymore…) in the sense that, in my view, the Japanese feel a sense of guilt for what happened and all this creation of post-atomic universes with endings often interlocutory and open is nothing but a way to atone for a sin that they feel deeply.
Of one thing I am sure: Miyazaki, even in his quest for forgiveness and internal and external balance, is an optimist in the end, and the ending of this masterpiece stands as proof of that. There don't necessarily have to be losers for there to be winners...
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