Princess Mononoke - Movie Reviews

Sep 3, 2023

Ecological issues are a common theme in movies, but they are often presented in a simple-minded manner which states that corporate interests are evil, and the people, native or otherwise, who wish to save the local environment are good. Such a generalisation has enough truth in it to justify such black-and-white presentations. What makes Princess Mononoke so unusual is that Hayao Miyazaki, the film's writer and director, shows a greater understanding of nuance in approaching the issue than is usually offered up in western movies. Of course Miyazaki sides with the forces of nature against those of destructive human development, but nonetheless he understands the motivations that lead to the destruction of natural habitats. The result is a film in which there are no villains. Miyazaki was a pacifist, and an anti-war message can be detected here. In the conflicts that follow, even those beings who have justice on their side risk becoming corrupted by evil. War and fighting do not bring good. The samurai, the heroes of many a Japanese movie, are shown here as a destructive force, attacking the local farmers and trying to seize control of Iron Town for their Lord. From the beginning it is clear that Iron Town is a place that it is out of step with nature. It is a big metallic edifice from which smoke billows. This is the early stages of human progress, and part of forest is being cleared to make way for the beginning of the industrial age. In this story, Miyazaki said that he wanted to "portray the very beginnings of the seemingly insoluble conflict between the natural world and modern industrial civilisation". At the head of Iron Town is the ruthless Lady Eboshi. In order to obtain her goals, she has come into conflict with the animal gods that inhabit the forest, and she intends to defeat them with superior firepower. Lady Eboshi has no qualms about killing animals for the protection of hr own interests, or about destroying an old way of life to make way for humans. In many an American movie, such a character would be the film's villain. Miyazaki instead makes Lady Eboshi a more complex character. In the eyes of the men and women working in Iron Town, she is a heroine. She is a reasonable and personable leader, who speaks gently to her employees, winning their unstinting loyalty. Lady Eboshi is a modern character in certain ways. She gives jobs to lepers, an ostracised group in Japan, who were thought to be the victims of deserved karma. She also buys up prostitutes from brothels, and allows them to make an honest living by working for her. This compassion for stigmatised groups makes Lady Eboshi a likeable character, even if some of her aims are misguided, or even horrific. The conflict between humans and animals occupies most of the film. There are three leading groups of animals that often fail to cooperate. There are the wolves, who are accompanied by San, a human child raised as a wolf and a possible love interest for Ashitaki. There are wild boars that have moved into the area purely to fight Lady Eboshi. Finally there are apes who are hostile, but do not fight. One of them comments: "We plant trees. The humans tear them up". Other creatures occupy the forest, including tiny little wood spirits, with heads that rotate, a sign of a healthy forest. These animals are not Disneyfied by Miyazaki. They look more convincingly like the actual creatures, rather than cute cartoon realisations of them. They are also not gentle or loveable, but savage and dangerous. They are wild animals, and we identify with them only because the forest is rightfully theirs. Still even their vengeful intentions are taking them on a self-destructive path that will do more damage in the end. While the ending is not a tragic one, it does conclude in some level of defeat for all the characters. There is a chance to rebuild, and some forces will endure, but nonetheless there is a sense that something has passed that cannot ever be fully recovered. As the apocalyptic images at the end suggest, greed and conflict can push our local ecology to the point where it may destroy us all, if not this time, then perhaps in the future. I wrote a longer appreciation of Princess Mononoke on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2022/03/19/princess-mononoke-1997/

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