Hayao Miyazaki is a master storyteller and director. His films are highly acclaimed all over the world, with two of them receiving the Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature. But one of his movies takes the prize for being the most polarizing one in his filmography.
Miyazaki’s 2013 movie, The Wind Rises, was born out of his love for aircraft. It is clearly a fictionalized retelling of the life of a famous Japanese aircraft engineer during World War II. And to my surprise, the protagonist is voiced by Hideaki Anno.
Hideaki Anno might not have been the best choice for a voice actor
Hideaki Anno is known for creating the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. His other popular works include Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman, Shin Kamen Rider, and many others. However, he is not renowned as a voice actor. But Hayao Miyazaki chose Anno to voice Jiro Horikoshi, the protagonist of The Wind Rises.
Hideaki Anno and Hayao Miyazaki go way back as Anno temporarily worked for Ghibli before creating his own franchise. In fact, Anno is one of the few people who can call out Miyazaki for his mistakes. The director of The Wind Rises was never keen on hiring from the usual roster of voice actors, which could have led him to hire Anno for the role.
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Anno’s voice acting as Jiro Horikoshi can’t be termed as terrible, but it was apparent that he was never suited for the role. Throughout the years, it has received mixed reactions as Anno could not properly portray the required emotions through his voice. Every time the protagonist speaks in a flat tone, Anno’s failure becomes even more apparent to me. While Anno is a dedicated director and creator, I don’t think that voice acting was ever his forte.
Hayao Miyazaki’s highly fictionalized version of The Wind Rises’ scrubs off much of the actual history
The Wind Rises focuses on a man who loves creating planes and wants to follow his dreams. However, it sparked debates about the ethical implications of creating weapons used for war. After all, the protagonist is Jiro Horikoshi, the creator of the A6M (Zero) fighter plane which was a major player in Japan’s role in World War II.
However, the director tried to detach Horikoshi from the war. He tried to make the protagonist look like a sympathetic and empathizing character who can’t help but create planes despite knowing what its consequences would be. In fact, war itself is never properly shown in the movie, only being used as a backdrop.
One might feel like the creator is almost trying to justify Horikoshi’s creations despite the massive effects that they had. Miyazaki always had a staunch anti-war philosophy, which stood in stark contrast with The Wind Rises where a man who designed war aircrafts was glorified.
However, The Wind Rises only highlights the dilemma that creators have to go through in the face of war. The desire to create is so strong that even if it involves widespread destruction, one ultimately wants to achieve their dreams. In a way, the director could be trying to make peace with creators who could have made better projects had they not faced compulsion by various circumstances. After all, Horikoshi simply wanted to make planes that would make people happy.
The Wind Rises is available to stream on Max.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
