Review of Whisper of the Heart
"Had a dream of living on my own With no fear of being all alone Pushed my sadness down inside of me And pretended I was strong as I could be Country road~ this road If you go right to the end Got a feeling it'll take me To that town, country road" Country Roads is an iconic song by John Denver that has become a classic for its catchy banjo-y musical melody. Its original lyrics entail the usual motif in most of Ghibli's stories—seeking comfort in nature's lushness, chowing down a day's worth of good meal, and napping underneath a tree's shade. It's not strange and hard to imagine for the filmto explore ideas of environmentalism and chime in with its usual antagonism against materialism. However, Whisper of the Heart is not as magically enticing as its predecessors, but instead, it focuses and seeks more to a deeper and personal meaning which resulted in Miyazaki and Kondo's very own twist of Country Roads.
Whisper of the Heart is a coming-of-age story that centers around a young soon-to-be-graduating middle schooler, Shizuku. To anyone who had experienced the same youthful and jubilant school life as Shizuku, it comes off almost reminiscent and realistic yet also painfully embarrassing with its close-to-home portrayal—schoolmates sharing lunch and harmless gossips together, classmates chasing after juicy rumors. and of course, the unforgettable angst of teenage love.
Puberty is a precarious time in a person's life. It is a bridge between childhood and adulthood; immaturity and responsibility; aspirations and constrictions. If asking children about their future goals, they'd often answer in a heartbeat but to teens, it is not always the case of "what do you want to be" but "what do you want to do". There is a different nuance in both questions wherein the former is easy to picture out an image of an ideal "you" but the latter would restrict choices by the determinants and factors of one's environment. Whisper of the Heart may just be brushed off as a simple and angsty teenage romance. But, I respectfully digress. The romance is not the pivot but a byproduct of grand storytelling. Shizuku who had led a life unbeknownst of romance would then encounter the name Seiji in the countless library cards and books she had borrowed—as if a well-intentioned message was dropped like along a trail. Later, her encounter with this enigmatic youth would become the centerpiece theme of the film about motivation and inspiration.
Here lies also another facet of Miyazaki's writing & motifs where he'd usually express his blatant disgust of the ever-encroaching materialism and exploitation against oneself. It is not his usual writing—not that of a prince and a girl raised by wolves striving to make peace between man and nature, not that of a young coal miner and a girl from the boonies whose actual lineage had been descended from a long lost civilization seeking to prevent the greedy men from exploiting its wondrous powers—but it deals more with man's place in the countless functioning cogs of society.
The film may also be plainly dismissed as another shallow story of a woman existing for a man. In fact, its premise could be put down similarly with Satoshi Kon's Millennium Actress—where the female protagonist, in her montage of life experience in acting, had been determined to find her love interest after a momentous and chance encounter. But unlike Chiyoko who might as well had been inside a fog in her entire life and chasing down an ever-elusive shadow, Shizuku is looking for something different.
Upon seeing Seiji with his very own hand-crafted violin and his aspirations to be a much better luthier, Shizuku was bewildered by the narrowness of her world. Restricted by the four corners of her classroom, life would have been simply just moving to another grade in school. Seiji however thought outside of that box. Instead of getting into high school like any other normal kid, he sought to study in Italy to further his craft in making violins.
It is almost propaganda-like to think that, in today's age of information and freedom, it is easy for people to grasp their future of their own choosing at hard work's compromise. But, people would also berate one when they see someone truly unique move away from a pre-established path of success—that is schooling. In relation to the film, there is nothing more disparity than between Shizuku and Seiji's calling.
Despite the difference in their own person, Shizuku would discover to write a fictional story and work countless nights on something that's akin to a love letter for Seiji's departure. Alas, by the end she exclaimed "anyone can do that"—not a simple case of humility but that of frustration. "a rough & unpolished work", so does old man Shirou says. However, in his gentle tone, that's unique to wise men of particularly old age, he politely advises Shizuku that she may take her time in polishing and refining her work—a metaphor to an earlier scene of the film about the beryl tucked inside a rough stone.
Whisper of the Heart is a Ghibli film that I cannot recommend enough for its well-blended mix of heart-tugging school romance and self-discovery. After all, the lyrics in Miyazaki and Kondo's version of Country Roads goes, "Pushed my sadness down inside of me and pretended I was strong as I could be" which may as well shed light for people stuck at a crossroads. But, it's also a song that entails courageousness and determination as its lyrics ended on the following: "Country Road, when tomorrow comes, I'll be like I always am. Want to go back there. Can't go back there".