November 27, 2013 -- One of the things that distinguishes Japanese films from American films is that historical biographies like “The Wind Rises” would almost always be made as a live action film, not an animated one like this beauty from Hayao Miyazaki, the master of Japanese animation. In America, most animated films are not really made for adults. This one is.

This is said to be a very personal film for Miyazaki, who is retiring from directing films after a long career of making such classics as “Princess Mononoke” and “Spirited Away.” This is a film about the life of noted aircraft designer Jiro Horikoshi from his youth through World War II. Jiro's bittersweet story follows his career as an aeronautical engineer and his romance with Naoko Satomi and marriage to her.

“The Wind Rises” combines history with fantasy on a beautiful canvas. The film opens with Jiro as a boy dreaming of being a pilot and flying his faciful bird-like airplane over his town, waving at the people below. In his dreams during this film, he encounters a famous airplane designer, Giovanni Battista Caproni, who tells him that airplanes are wonderful things of beauty, but that airplanes will also be used as agents of destruction and death in war. Jiro tells Carponi he just wants to build beautiful airplanes. Both Caproni and Jiro do end up building military aircraft used in war.

Later, on his way to Tokyo, Jiro witnesses the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Fleeing the fires that follow the earthquake with other train passengers, Jiro meets the lovely Naoko Satomi and her maid. The maid has a broken leg, so Jiro uses his slide rule as a splint to mend her leg and carries her towards home. Years later, Naoko finds Jiro to thank him for his help, telling him he was like a knight on a white horse who came to the rescue.

Jiro studies hard in college and becomes a top aeronautical engineer. He is hired by Mitsubishi Internal Combustion Engine Company and is put to work on problems related to airplane design. His work is so impressive, he is put in charge of a team designing new advanced aircraft for the military. He goes on to design the most famous of all aircraft ever built in Japan, the A6M fighter, known as the “Zero.”

At this time, Japan is desperately poor. Aircraft were towed by Oxen from the factory to the airfield for testing. Jiro's boss is the diminutive Mr. Kurokawa, who provides a bit of comic relief in the film, as well as being a friend who conducts Jiro's wedding. Another friend is a fellow engineer, Honjô. An interesting character who appears briefly in the film, but seems to have a lasting impact on it is Kastrup, a German tourist who Jiro meets at a resort.

Kastrup is very friendly and gregarious. He also seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting the future of Germany and Japan. He leads the singing in a musical interlude at the resort. Later, Jiro is suspected of disloyalty by the government and has to go into hiding, presumably because of his friendship with Kastrup. In a scene at the resort, it is Kastrup who breaks the ice between Jiro and Naoko's father, prompting Jiro to declare his love for Naoko and to ask her father's permission to marry her.

This is a beautiful film to watch. The artwork is old school, like an animated painting. The outdoor scenes are glorious works of pastel art. The indoor scenes are seen in more subdued colors and brightness. The pace of the film is leisurely and tranquil. Even though there are scenes of vast destruction, none of it seems very threatening. The film doesn't really depict war, except in some dream sequences, even though the Mitsubishi Zero, designed by Jiro, was very much in the thick of the war.

This film is controversial in Japan. Detractors call it a pro-war film, but it really isn't pro-war. This is clear when we see Jiro walking through a kind of graveyard of airplanes and buildings destroyed in the war. It is also clear when Jiro dreams of a conversation with Caproni, who equates building war aircraft with building the pyramids. Jiro must decide if he wants a world with, or without pyramids. War is terrible, but one positive byproduct of war is that it advances technology.

When World War II started, there were still military biplanes built of canvas and wood. Six years later there were atomic bombs and rockets skimming the edge of space, as well as jet and rocket-powered aircraft (including some built by Japan).

The dreams of scientists and engineers sometimes become nightmares in the wartime applications of their designs. German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun wanted to design rockets that would take men to other planets, but his V2 rockets were used as weapons of terror, raining death and destruction on London. When told of the V2 success of hitting London, Von Braun reportedly said that the rocket “had landed on the wrong planet.”

After the end of the war, Jiro saw his dream come true when he designed commercial passenger aircraft and Von Braun finally saw his rockets take men to the Moon. This film deals with Jiro, and men who designed aircraft that were used to kill thousands of people on the one hand. On the other hand, it asks this question: Where would we be without dreamers like Jiro and Von Braun, who could make their dreams come true? This film rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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