On September 1, 2013, representatives of Studio Ghibli announced that Hayao Miyazaki - their founder and most famous filmmaker - would be retiring from directing feature length films after the release of “The Wind Rises”. With every Miyazaki film being an event upon itself, news of his retirement immediately led audiences and critics to look at his newest project with eyes of premature nostalgia and perhaps too much tact, when the truth is that the film is one of his weakest efforts.
There is nothing inherently wrong with “The Wind Rises”, which in terms of inventive animation and breathtaking character design is as good a anything the director ever made; the problem is the entire film is based on a very weak foundation. It’s nothing else than a fantasy biopic telling us the life story of Jiro Horikoshi, an engineer who would go on to design the iconic Mitsubishi A5M, the inverted gull wing fighter aircraft used by the Japanese Empire during World War II.
The film follows Jiro from his days as a daydreaming teenager, all the way to becoming one of the country’s most important inventors. In order to give his hero a serious dilemma, he gets a love interest in the shape of Naoko, a young woman he encounters years after having rescued her during the Great Earthquake of 1923. The story pits their relationship against Jiro’s passion for his work, creating an ultimately heartbreaking - albeit strangely sappy - love triangle that has him trying to choose between love and career.
Trying to view it in retrospect, “The Wind Rises” might be the equivalent of Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo”, two movies which combined heartwarming elements with real life unsung heroes. They are both charming beyond words but add little to their respective filmmakers’ oeuvres. Miyazaki’s movie has sparked controversy in Japan over its alleged anti-nationalist undertones which suggest he was too harsh on criticizing Japan’s involvement in WWII, when the reality is that the director - being the wise man he is - has merely highlighted the contrast between the beauty of creation and the ugliness that arises when said creations are used for evil purposes.
In this way, “The Wind Rises” does play like a lovely adieu to cinema, which judging on the concepts suggested by the film, provided Miyazaki with the outlet to release all his astonishing ideas and images into the world. His love for the film camera being equal to that of his protagonist for his airplanes.
