The Wind Rises
風立ちぬ
Detailed parental analysis
The Wind Rises is a contemplative and melancholic animated film, sustained by an atmosphere that is both lyrical and painful. It traces the journey of a Japanese aeronautical engineer who devotes his life to designing fighter aircraft in interwar Japan, torn between his creative passion and the military uses of his work. The film is addressed primarily to an adult or older teenage audience: its slow pace, historical density and complex moral stakes make it poorly accessible to children.
Underlying Values
Smoking is omnipresent and constitutes one of the most salient signals in the film for parents. Characters smoke in almost every situation, including inside a sanatorium, in the immediate vicinity of a woman gravely afflicted with tuberculosis. This representation is not questioned in the narrative: smoking is shown as a natural gesture, almost elegant, rooted in the social codes of the era. There is no narrative warning, no visible consequence linked to tobacco for the smokers. This is a point to name explicitly with a teenager, by distinguishing historical reconstruction from implicit valorisation.
Substances
Smoking is omnipresent and constitutes one of the most salient signals in the film for parents. Characters smoke in almost every situation, including inside a sanatorium, in the immediate vicinity of a woman gravely afflicted with tuberculosis. This representation is not questioned in the narrative: smoking is shown as a natural gesture, almost elegant, rooted in the social codes of the era. There is no narrative warning, no visible consequence linked to tobacco for the smokers. This is a point to name explicitly with a teenager, by distinguishing historical reconstruction from implicit valorisation.
Social Themes
The film is traversed by the history of Japan in the 1920s and 1930s: the devastating earthquake of 1923 is shown with strong visual intensity, with massive destruction, fires, smoke and panic. The rise of Japanese militarism and the Second World War constitute the dark horizon of the narrative, without ever being treated frontally. It is precisely this treatment in outline that merits attention: war is present as an inevitable context, never as an object of explicit critical reflection. For a teenager unfamiliar with this period, the film can open a conversation about imperial Japan, about the way societies slide towards war, and about what it means to live and create in an authoritarian regime.
Violence
Violence is not spectacular or gory, but it is present in forms that can affect younger viewers. The 1923 earthquake is represented with real visual power: chaos, the injured, fires. The disease of tuberculosis is shown without evasion, with scenes in which the female character coughs up blood. These elements are inscribed in a realistic and sober narrative, without self-indulgence, but they presuppose a certain emotional maturity to be received calmly.
Parental and Family Portrayals
Family figures are discreet in the narrative, which concentrates on the professional and sentimental journey of the protagonist. The central romantic relationship is treated with restraint and sincerity, but it is marked by illness and separation. The film offers a model of devotion and attachment that can touch teenagers, whilst implicitly raising the question of sacrifice and the priority given to work over intimate life.
Strengths
The film is a work of great narrative refinement, which refuses moral shortcuts and treats its subject with rare honesty. The reconstruction of interwar Japan is of striking precision and formal beauty. The narrative manages to make endearing a character whose creations will serve to kill, without ever exonerating or condemning him, which is an uncommon feat of writing in animated cinema. On an emotional level, the romantic relationship is treated with a restraint and depth that ring true. For a teenager curious about history or sensitive to questions of individual responsibility, the film constitutes a substantial object of reflection, far beyond entertainment.
Age recommendation and discussion points
The film is best reserved for viewers aged 14 and above, for a mature and curious teenager, preferably 16 for fully serene viewing and reception of the moral stakes in their complexity. Two angles of discussion impose themselves after viewing: can one be responsible for the uses that others make of what one creates, and how does one distinguish admiration for a talent from approval of what that talent has served?
Synopsis
A lifelong love of flight inspires Japanese aviation engineer Jiro Horikoshi, whose storied career includes the creation of the A-6M World War II fighter plane.
About this title
- Format
- Feature film
- Year
- 2013
- Runtime
- 2h 6m
- Countries
- Japan
- Original language
- JA
- Directed by
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Main cast
- Hideaki Anno, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Miori Takimoto, Masahiko Nishimura, Stephen Alpert, Mansai Nomura, Jun Kunimura, Mirai Shida, Shinobu Otake, Morio Kazama
- Studios
- Studio Ghibli, Nippon Television Network Corporation, dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, The Walt Disney Company (Japan), d-rights, TOHO
Content barometer
- Violence2/5Moderate
- Fear2/5A few scenes
- Sexuality1/5Allusions
- Language0/5None
- Narrative complexity3/5Complex
- Adult themes4/5Strong
Values conveyed
- Perseverance
- love
- creativity
- kindness