Review of The Wind Rises

Acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki is well known for his fantastical and incredible forays into the mystical worlds he forms in his films, and for good reason. They are chock full of life, detail, and beauty at every turn, truly bringing a whole new kind of land to reality. And, while these are of course wonderful and amazing, Miyazaki set out to prove he could give the same wondrous experience through the lens of reality in his 2013 film The Wind Rises, set to be his final film before retirement. The Wind Rises tells the life story of Jiro Horikoshi (1903–1982), designer of the Mitsubishi A5M fighteraircraft and its successor, the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, used by Japan during World War II. The film is adapted from Miyazaki's manga of the same name, which was in turn loosely based on the 1937 novel The Wind Has Risen by Tatsuo Hori. As one may guess from the several tellings of the story, the narrative is a strong one, chronicling Jiro’s journey through life chasing his dreams of making airplanes out of a joy for the craft, yet finding them used for war in the end instead.

As a story following the life of a central character, said main character is obviously a key focus of our attention, in both their growth and their interactions with others around them. Thankfully, The Wind Rises excels greatly in this area, with subtle, yet notable character writing that expertly establishes and grows characters over the film’s course. It’s not drastic or greatly noticeable, and is easy to dismiss as generally stale, but this subtly conveyance of character truly adds to the film’s overall life-like feeling.

That incredible lifelike approach is only exemplified through the movie’s incredible and fluid animation in both character and environment. As a film by Studio Ghibli after years of phenomenal releases, the animators truly know and understand their craft, and it shows. The characters are expressive in all their animations and facial expressions, while backgrounds are full of life and gorgeous to witness. And, as a key focal point of the film, the planes too are works of beauty as they soar through the sky and truly make you understand Jiro’s amazement for them.

To continue in speaking of the movie’s world, the environments all throughout are really something to be amazed by. It may seem odd to compliment the world of a movie based in the real world setting, but it’s true. Somehow the mundane and ordinary Earthly things we know well seem magical and full of life, as if imbued by Miyazaki’s usual fantastical spark. It makes the world feel more interesting than any live form of media could hope to do, by allowing some of our imagination and fantasy to leak through, enough to give it that signature Ghibli wonder.

And, part of that wonder can be found in the soundtrack played at every turn of the movie’s run. Rising and powerful, the music played evokes the very feelings of the wind and world embodied by the film, surging and falling just as we witness happening before us. It’s a difficult balance to be notable enough to be recalled, yet subtle enough to work into the movie without feeling overwhelming, but The Wind Rises manages to strike it just right to exemplify its themes.

It’s these very themes that are a large part of The Wind Rises’ identity. There are a good number of factors that go into the whole; freedom, life, imagination. If I were to fit it under one label though, I would call it dreams. Dreams are the engine that powers this vehicle of a story, driving Jiro forward through every curveball life throws at him to achieve that which he desires more than anything else. He will push through and fulfill it; it’s only a matter of looking back and questioning if his dream was worth it in the end.

There is one key aspect of the film I find fault with, though, and it’s regretfully embedded quite deeply into the story’s framework. The movie follows the life of Jiro as it skips throughout the years and, while this functions well for his development, dream, and character, it leads to an awkward pacing issue in which some eras last for far longer than others, and we leap from moment to moment without much in the way of steady progression, feeling more like jumps than a gradual incline.

Even with this issue in the film, The Wind Rises is overall a fantastic tale of freedom, life, imagination, and dreams. Everything from its story, to characters, to animation, to world, to its music all embody this united tale of a dreamer who grew to make what he loved, unknown of what it may one day bring forth. It’s a truly wondrous story, one that I most absolutely recommend to be seen.

Grade - A