SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
While it occasionally betrays its age, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind’s wonderful heroine, timeless story and richly imaginative world remain compelling even today.
Often, classic films don’t hold up as well as they once did when seen through the eyes of modern audiences. Of these, animated films tend to do the best. They’re drawings and paintings in motion, and though age can still set in, any shortcomings like stuttering animation and blurred visuals become a unique style with a charm all of their own. Hayao Miyazaki’s second film, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind proves this and more. Nearly forty years ago, it was hugely influential: proof that hand-drawn animation without computer assistance could handle the epic scale fantasy of the novels that first inspired it. True, it occasionally shows its age when viewed today, but it is no less impressive and indeed no less influential for it. Now, it serves as proof that time can do nothing to dull a truly rich imagination.
Set in a post-post-apocalyptic future, Nausicaä, the princess of the idyllic Valley of the Wind has taken to exploring the Sea of Decay, a toxic forest borne of the pollution and poison left behind by our civilization’s destruction in a catastrophic armed conflict a thousand years ago. When the warlike Tolmekian people invade the Valley, seeking an ancient weapon capable of burning away the Sea of Decay and restoring civilization, Nausicaä becomes embroiled in a war to save both her people and the entire world from total destruction.
There are a few films that simply possess an irresistible, almost magnetic draw. Within the first five minutes, they showcase a strange force that pulls you in and keeps your attention. Something about them identifies them almost immediately as an awe-inspiring piece of entertainment. For me, Star Wars is one and Nausicaä yet another; perhaps not a surprise considering they were both influenced by the seminal work of science fiction that is Frank Herbert’s Dune. Like the best novels too, they provoke a desire to learn and see more very early on. In the first five minutes, Nausicaä draws you in with the promise of a big adventure: a mystery person clad from head to toe carefully scouts through a village clouded by toxic spores and laid to ruin by spreading, mutant vegetation, while its heroine, clad in survival gear and a rifle round her shoulder, plumbs the depths of an otherworldly, almost alien forest, following the tracks of a great beast yet unseen. Few words are spoken; the film is left to speak for itself through its visuals and music. And speak for itself it does.
That promise of adventure is followed through and then some. Nausicaä is a powerfully compelling central character: capable and determined, tempered by an empathy and intelligence that is impossible not to admire. She only reluctantly takes on the mantle of warrior and heroine. This is very much her journey to the point that some side characters, including her companion Absel, are short-changed. I was reminded – much to my surprise – of Rey from the Star Wars sequel trilogy, perhaps marking this film’s truly extraordinary but unseen influence on our entertainment. The film’s characters are capably voiced without exception: its protagonists enthralling, its antagonists pragmatic and sympathetic rather than purely evil, and its side characters amusingly funny. Its message about pacifism and living in harmony with nature, as well as emphasising the role of fear and greed as the root causes of human suffering betrays its Buddhist and Japanese influences. Its villains’ fear of the toxic forest breeds their hatred, while Nausicaä, with her pure intentions, is able to explore it freely. If anything, that’s a far stronger message than simply proselytizing about the environment, and one that’s grown even more timely in the years since its initial release.
Throughout, it’s clear from both the story and the fantasy action sequences that this film is a work of passion, driven by a rich imagination that simply refuses to stay quiet. Watching Nausicaä soar through the skies on her futuristic glider is a stirring experience, and its many aerial sequences are still frenetic and exciting in that old-school adventure film sort of way. Joe Hisaishi’s wonderful score only accentuates this effect, and it’s only in the animation that the film’s age really shows through. Compared to modern animation of any kind, Nausicaä moves at a stuttering pace, and while it still creates a beautiful post-apocalyptic world, they can be blurred as if viewed through a smudged piece of glass. It’s charming in its own way, and no one could ever claim that films like Indiana Jones are no longer exciting simply because they happen to be old.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is an extraordinary work of fiction whose ambitions and epic scale remain largely untouched by the passage of time. That the film has apparently influenced artists of all stripes, both in Japan and beyond, is unsurprising.
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