The Wind Rises

Summary

“We’re not arms merchants. We just want to design good aircraft.”

Shout!Factory, through their GKIDS line, has been the home of physical media releases for films by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli for the last few years. They have steadily reissued the Blu-rays of these cherished films with exceptional technical specs that would make any collector smile. Their most recent release to the GKIDS line is Hayao Miyazaki’s film The Wind Rises. I have been a fan of Hayao Miyazaki since the theatrical release of his film Princess Mononoke stateside in 1999. I have followed the director’s films for the most part since then and have come to own nearly all of the Ghibli releases. With The Wind Rises, Miyazaki had aimed to retire completely from the filmmaking business in 2013. Since that time, Miyazaki has decided to come back for one more film which is currently under production. That said, I think it makes sense to view The Wind Rises as a very personal and reflective film by the director that he had felt was an appropriate finale. Over the weekend I viewed the film together with my two boys.

As the film begins a young Japanese man walks to the roof of his house. He has a small single prop plane on the ledge of his roof that he flies through the skies. A large machine appears above him that drops bombs that knock him out of the sky. He awakens. His name is Jiro Horikoshi (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and he is a bespectacled youth living in 1918 in a small Japanese village. He is interested in aviation and reads magazines about the topic whenever possible. He dreams of airplanes and of Italian airplane designer Caproni (Stanley Tucci). He longs to be a pilot but is nearsighted. Caproni assures him that he can design planes as an engineer. He also warns him that planes should be things of beauty and not tools of war. Jiro wakes and realizes he must become an aeronautical engineer. Five years later, he boards a train towards Tokyo Imperial University. While en route, the train survives a massive earthquake. Jiro meets a young girl Naoko and her maid who has suffered a leg injury from the quake. He helps them as they disembark from the train. The whole east side of Tokyo begins to burn. He carries the maid back to the family of Naoko without mentioning his name. Jiro arrives at his school as fellow student Kiro Honjo (John Krasinski) helps to save books from the library that is burning. In 1927, Jiro and Honjo graduate. They ride a train across the country and gain employment at the Mitsubishi aircraft manufacturing facility. They are asked to design the fighter planes called the Falcon. The film follows Jiro on his journey which leads to the construction of the fighter planes that Japan used in World War II and also leads Jiro toward a fulfilling but tragic romantic life with Naoko who suffers from tuberculosis.

The Wind Rises was based on a manga written and drawn by Miyazaki. It is definitely one of his more somber works and certainly his least fantastic that I have seen. For serious film lovers, this should not dissuade someone from viewing the film. It is only natural that an artist reaching the end of his professional career would want to create a film that touches on aspects of mortality and love. The film is best viewed as both a treatise on romance and an affectionate look at the mindset of engineers. Miyazaki saw in the life story of Jiro Hirokoshi a story of an artist struggling to bring to life the machines within his mind. Suffusing this tale with wonder and reverence, Miyazaki in some ways blows past some of the horrible realities that these machines brought upon the world. Because Hirokoshi’s planes were flown against American soldiers in World War II, I personally found it difficult at times to root for Jiro to figure out the best way to create these airplanes. I could not help but think of Pearl Harbor as I watched Jiro work his way towards his fighter plane design. I think in some ways, it is an unfair perspective for me to push upon the beautifully told story in the film. If the film had told the same story but the dreaming engineer was American, I am certain I would not have had any type of morality crises appear. That said, because the film seems to intentionally downplay the destruction that was wrought by these planes (aside from a few well thought scenes,) it did feel as if history were being rewritten with selective memory. This criticism was leveled heavily against the film even from its most devoted acolytes, and, while valid, it may actually miss the point of why Miyazaki would choose to make this film. Miyazaki is best known for his more fantastic pictures and the beauty of these films. Why is it that as an audience we should expect or want Miyazaki to delve into the horrors of war when he would rather focus on the way that wind lifts up the wings of airplanes?

If a viewer can get past the selective nature of what the film focuses upon, the story itself is beautifully told. Miyazaki is a visual storyteller that understands how to connect viewers with the natural beauty around them. The love story at the center of the film is a tragic one and the nature of the love story is focused on selflessness. The film is driven by a love of artistic creation and the desire for a romantic counterpart in this world. The story itself is beautifully told by Miyazaki.

The English dub for the film features numerous talented actors. Joseph Gordon-Levitt lends his voice to Jiro and it fits well. Actors John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Martin Short, Stanley Tucci, and Mandy Patinkin all have roles that utilize there vocal talents to their best abilities. My favorite voice I heard in the film was one that I could not have guessed would appear – German film director and iconoclast Werner Herzog. I love Herzog and recognized his voice in the role of Castorp within three sentences being uttered. The English cast is very well assembled.

The music in the film by Joe Hisaishi is driven by pianos and violins. It is very beautiful. I would rank it as one of the best scores I have heard this year. It reminded me of the compositions from Ryuichi Sakamoto if just a little more stripped down. I was impressed with the score for the duration of the film. I believe that it does wonders for making the film relatable and infusing the film with emotional heft.

Overall – if The Wind Rises had been the swan song of Hayao Miyazaki, it would have been a completely understandable choice as a final film. It manages to find beauty everywhere even in some of the hardest times that man has faced. It is a film that tries to encourage artists everywhere to follow their dreams and create what they see in their imaginations.

Video

Shout!Factory presents The Wind Rises with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The video presentation looks superb. As mentioned by another reviewer, the bitrate for the Shout!Factory Blu-ray is much higher than the bitrate of the Disney Blu-ray. This leads to an image quality that easily surpasses that release. Fine detail is excellent and colors and clarity are superb. I can’t imagine the film looking any better than it does here. This is the version that fans will want to watch.

Audio

The Wind Rises features both Japanese and English DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround tracks. I watched this film with the excellent English dub, but the Japanese track sounds great also. The surrounds are used cleverly and bring out the beautiful score by composer Joe Hisaishi. There is not much room for improvement here until we can get an Atmos track.

Supplements:

• 10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki – this is a new documentary specific to the Shout! Factory release.
• The Wind Rises Behind the Microphone 
• Storyboards 
• Announcement of the Completion of the Film
• Original Japanese Trailers and TV Spots

Overall Scores:

Video – 5/5

Audio – 5/5

Supplements – 4.5/5

Overall – 4.5/5

The Wind Rises is a beautiful film from acclaimed writer and director Hayao Miyazaki. The film had been criticized for its selective approach towards its subject matter, and as an American viewer it was hard to root for a man that was creating machines that took American lives. Once I got past my hang ups regarding the subject matter, I found myself interested in the story of a man who sought to bring to life the machines he visualized in his mind. I was also taken with the tragic and beautiful romance at the center of the film. I can fully understand why Miyazaki was happy to leave this film as his swan song. Shout!Factory has provided a great looking transfer of the film with essentially perfect video and audio specifications. The supplemental package is enjoyable. Highly recommended.