The Wind Rises (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away)
	Actors (voices):  Hideaki Anno, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Miori Takimoto
	Country: J
	Genre: Animation, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 05.01.2016, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Jirô Horikoshi (Anno) has always dreamt of designing beautiful planes.
Review: Supposedly the last feature length film to be directed by genius Hayao Miyazaki, I has read a lot of good about The Wind Rises and wished to see it to further complete his filmography on JoRafCinema. I found two things particularly interesting about this movie: one is that Miyazaki (and the Ghibli studio) is going against the trend of showing more and more realistic images in live action movies and animated ones as well (I remember the technical perfection in the 2004 Steamboy from another studio). In this movie on the contrary the drawings are very simple (including the backgrounds), and nothing is shown that is not directly related to the story. Back to the roots of animation, all for the best. Secondly, unlike usually with Miyazaki, the story of the movie does not take place in a Fantasy world in which he transcribes his dreams of flying and humanity's problem with war. The Wind Rises actually depicts the real story of the creator of the Japanese Zero planes so dreadfully efficient during WWII, and the advantage of Animation shows up during the dream sequences of the main character. Note that Miyazaki's father was a plane designer during that period. I loved it that the movie depicts engineers of that time as dreamers and artists, trying to creating the most beautiful flying machines regardless of their application. I was thinking about a parallel with the creators of the Atom bomb, who wanted to create a warm light for the world to share, regardless of the consequences. The Wind Rises is actually an animated historical Drama, thus reminding of the Melodrama Grave of the Fireflies (1988) also from Ghibli and produced with relatively little time and money so that it looks very crude but with a powerful story nevertheless.
Rating: 7 /10