The Wind Rises

This weekend I finally went to see The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu). I can honestly say I’ve never felt my money more well spent than the $12 I spent on that movie ticket. I watch a lot of movies. A lot of people watch a lot of movies. So I know I’m not speaking from a minority standpoint when I say that those times when you stumble upon a movie that seems to live and breathe on its own, you feel rich as Croesus. These movies are vitally important to you. Hayao Miyazaki, the writer, director, and illustrator of the original
comic, has created many of these vitally important films, in my life at least. His films are so complex and magical and fantastic and deceptively human. You’re drawn into this fairy tale that reveals more about the hearts of men than you could learn in most philosophical texts, that I believe for a fact.

The main character of Kaze Tachinu, Horikoshi, once said of his aircraft design that “All I wanted to do was to make something beautiful”. Miyazaki’s portrayal of this man’s struggle to find a way to create the beautiful airplanes of his imaginings, only to see them in the end fly off to battle, never to return, resulted in one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve ever experienced. I cried (not a lot, my brothers were there, I have street cred to uphold here). say that I am recommending this movie to anyone who can possibly see it is an understatement. I’m kind of saying that you have to.

 Le vent se lève! . . . il faut tenter de vivre!