Top Movies #13

Princess Mononoke (1997)

“I didn't know the Forest Spirit made the flowers grow.” – Kohroku

I firmly believe that Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke is the Japanese God of animation’s true masterpiece. It is an astoundingly beautiful film on so many levels that it is impossible not to be moved by this tremendous achievement. The art itself is gorgeous: Miyazaki (who personally drew 80,000 of the film’s 144,000 animation cells) and his team of artists paint a vivid green forested landscape, populated by a creative family of creatures and characters, each with their own unique style and design. The level of original detail put into the art design is what truly sets this film apart from anything Disney has ever put out. And that is just the beginning. The orchestral music and themes not only enrich the beautiful art design, but stand alone as one of the finest of film soundtracks.

The film is rich with metaphor and social commentary about mankind’s self-destructive nature and his fear and dominance of that which he does not understand. The film also contains a dire warning about the consequences of continued damage to the natural world.

Ashitaka is a young man who is forced to leave his reclusive, long-thought-extinct tribe, because he has come into contact with a foreign evil that will kill him and bring misfortune to his village.
He sets out on a quest to find the source of this evil and tries to understand it along the way.
This search for comprehension makes the film’s narrative unique. The characters do not simply portray straight-forward good or bad, right or wrong archetypes. Instead, their personalities feel real and functional, which is a phenomenal accomplishment considering this is an animated film that, yes, includes talking animals. Lady Eboshi, who is stripping the environment around her of wood and metals to build her highly industrious Iron Town, has also founded a hospital and shelter for misplaced lepers who have nowhere else to turn. Her primary motivation, if somewhat misguided, is to protect them and take care of them while amounting her entrepreneurial enterprises. The title character, Princess Mononoke leads her gang of wolfs on attacks that kill many men, leaving grieving wives and children behind. This is a character that is supposed to be the heart of the story, fighting to protect the health of her forest and animals. It is this deep complexity of character, and the mature and intelligent handling of themes about protecting the natural environment, that fully propels the film to cinematic greatness.