hen Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki first decided to write and illustrate his own manga series, he demanded two conditions of his publishers: He would be able to put the work aside whenever he was directing another of his animated films (such as Kiki's Delivery Service and Laputa: Castle in the Sky), and the manga itself would never be made into a movie. But eventually he changed his mind, and in 1986 the animated adaptation of his series Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind hit theaters in Japan. The original manga was an immense, sprawling political epic, and by contrast, the two-hour film is a smaller, more contained project. But it still manages a great deal of scope in telling the story of a village princess who brings compassion and understanding back to a lost and violent world.
A thousand years after "the collapse of industrial civilization," humanity exists in a tenuous relationship with nature. The poisonous spores of the Sea of Decay (or "the Toxic Jungle" in the dubbed translation) are spreading across the planet, absorbing and destroying entire human towns and threatening the last of the human race. Nausicaä (Lohman), the daughter of the headman of the rustic Valley of the Wind, is one of the few humans who doesn't fear the nearby Sea or its aggressive, immense insectoid protectors; she travels freely into the wasteland, researching and exploring.
But her calm, orderly life is disrupted when an immense airship crashes in the Valley, killing all aboard and leaving behind a throbbing, sinewy artifact. Soon, representatives of a savage and warlike nation, led by the cold-hearted Kushana (Thurman) and her ambitious second-in-command, Kurotowa (Sarandon), descend to claim the artifact, enslaving the Valley and murdering Nausicaä's father. Nausicaä, a brave, kindly girl who deplores aggression, ignorance and killing, is drawn into the war between forces who are alternately stirring up the Sea and threatening to destroy it. Only Nausicaä knows why both tactics are disastrous, but convincing the fearful and angry leaders on both sides is a daunting task.
Sweet and optimistic
Fans of Miyazaki's 1997 hit Princess Mononoke will find many of Nausicaä's themes and characters familiar; Nausicaä is an earlier and less visually ambitious project, but it has much of the same complexity and thematic power. Nausicaä herself reads like a more empathetic version of Mononoke's San, her young warrior friend Asbel (LaBeouf) strongly resembles Mononoke's hero Ashitaka, and Kushana seems like a prototype for Mononoke's tough, uncompromising Lady Eboshi. Like Mononoke, Nausicaä tracks the relationships between warring human states and the wild, which protects itself violently and with immense and undiscriminating power, but also with a wisdom and a right that humanity can't match.
One of the main differences between the films, though, is that Nausicaä is sweeter and more optimistic. Miyazaki's movies often imply that while the world isn't gentle, it and its people are essentially good at heart, and the joys of life always make the troubles worth it. Nausicaä reaches this conclusion well in advance by offering a stronger central focus than Mononoke, in the form of a wise-beyond-her-years princess who provides an unwavering moral compass for everyone around her. If Nausicaä has a flaw—and it's hard to find one in a film this packed with good-hearted, well-executed adventure—it's that Nausicaä herself is just a little too perfect; she's the prototypical heroine who can do no wrong. In that sense, Nausicaä is a bit simpler and aimed at younger audiences than Mononoke.
But like all Miyazaki's films, Nausicaä is sophisticated enough, visually and textually, to find fans of all ages. Miyazaki's typical attention to detail finds particular expression in the wildly outlandish designs of the poisoned wastelands and their eerie denizens, and his sense for thrilling visuals and exciting story is as unparalleled as ever. This DVD release of Nausicaä has been a long time coming, but 20 years after its release, it's still a vibrant, memorable and fantastic-looking film.
Disney's American dubs of Miyazaki movies have been hit-or-miss, but this attempt boasts a solid and capable cast, including Star Trek's Patrick Stewart as the wandering swordsman Lord Yupa. The voices are serious and naturalistic, and the dub script closely follows the original subtitled script. A much, much better job all around than was done with Porco Rosso, another in this batch of new Miyazaki DVD releases.
— Tasha
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Also in this issue:
The Cat Returns
and
Porco Rosso
