By Anastasia Aleiferi,
Last year, many movies were released on cinemas, many among which are animated. Most animated movies are overlooked by adults, because they are considered to be “made for children”, but I beg to disagree, because animated movies have a unique way to convey messages and are a slight change of pace for movie lovers. So, after watching the movie “The Boy and the Heron” in cinemas, I wanted to talk about it.
So, the story takes place during the Pacific War. It is centered around a boy named Mahito, who loses his mother in a hospital fire, and Mahito’s father, a factory owner who remarries his late wife’s sister and they go to live in rural Japan. In the beginning of his new life, while Mahito is trying to adjust to it, he meets a unique greedy heron that leads him to an abandoned sealed tower, in the estate of his new home, which is the last known location of his great-grandfather. One day, his stepmother/aunt goes missing, and Mahito learns from the grey heron that she is in the abandoned tower, so he follows the heron inside the tower to find her. In the tower he finds a world full of wonder, mystery and adventure.
From the very first minute with the fire scene the film had me captivated, and immediately, I knew that I was going to be at the edge of my seat until the very end. The visuals from the very first scene which was the hospital fire had me enchanted. Miyazaki once again proved to me why he is still a master of his craft. In the first scene, where the hospital fire takes place, we can see everything that the 12-year-old Mahito is feeling, what his thought process is and what his motivation is. From the way Mahito weaves between the panicked people, the roughness and the dirtiness that is in the air and around the people because of the war and the fire. All that, in combination with the soundtrack, makes the scene feel even more real, even more impactful. Most scenes in this movie are filled only with the sound of nature, something that is somewhat new for the studio, because usually their films have beautiful songs accompanying them. Sometimes there is the faint sound of the air, the water or the grass. I don’t think this choice was random, because in this way I, as a viewer, couldn’t figure out what Mahito was thinking or what he was going to do next, so I was sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for his next move.
What is interesting about this movie is that the writer and director of the film, at the age of 82, creates now one of his most personal ones. The film is heavily inspired by Miyazaki’s childhood and explores the themes of coming of age, loss and coping with a world marked by conflict and pain, as well as what we can change about this world. The movie is essentially a letter of love, of understanding and acceptance between the creator, his son and the rest of the family of the creators and the people that were involved in the production. The writer and director of this film is Hayao Miyazaki, founder of Ghibli studio, which creates animated movies and who, in the studio, also works with one of his sons. In the past, his son created some 3D animated movies that received some heavy criticism and created problems with the image of the studio. So, it was natural that father and son working together can be something nice but also can create some riffs. For this movie, Hayao Miyazaki wanted to create something more personal; not only something for everyone to enjoy, but also a message for his son. In the movie, the idea of conflict and struggle were very prominent and in the end the message that the creator wanted to convey was that, even though we fight, even though we have our differences, I still love you, I accept you for who you are and I want you to do what you love.
I believe that everyone should watch this movie once in their lifetime. It is an entertaining, mysterious fantasy movie with great storytelling and suspense. In my eyes, one mid-level Ghibli film can be better than most average Hollywood-produced films, because each film is original and always brings something new for the viewer to enjoy. In this film, everything is on point, the animation is flawless, and there are no awkward moments that could seem weird to the viewer. The music makes the scenes even more impactful. It is a film with some heavy but important messages, which can make anyone take a moment to think about what they watched.
