Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises is one of his most controversial films, telling the story of Jiro Horikoshi, the engineer behind Japan’s infamous Mitsubishi Zero fighter plane. In the movie, we see Jiro’s passion for flight blinds him to several moral implications of his work. However, I think it was a deliberate choice as Miyazaki does not idealize or demonize him, rather it leaves us to judge him for ourselves.
Some argue the film doesn’t hold Japan accountable enough, especially because it leaves out the massacre of Koreans after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. On the other hand, Japanese far-right extremists are dissatisfied with it for portraying the Japanese military as foolish. This two-way criticism also shows us how Miyazaki is not making a typical moralistic point.
Jiro’s moral blindness: A conscious choice by Hayao Miyazaki
The main protagonist of The Wind Rises, Jiro is consumed by his passion for aircraft, so much so that he ignores all the frightening things going on around him. He knows the Nazis are evil, knows how clueless the Japanese military is, and knows his wife’s ill, still, he prioritizes his dream.
With Jiro’s portrayal in such a way, all I can say is that Hayao Miyazaki is not requesting that we admire him, rather he’s requesting that we observe the decisions he makes and judge his actions. Jiro’s not an evil man, but his tunnel vision puts him in the context of a larger picture.
So, Jiro’s chasing his dream, but the world outside is falling apart. Japan’s on the brink of war, with a struggling economy and some heavy government repression. Instead of fighting against it, Jiro just keeps out of it. So he’s basically helping create something that’ll be used in war.
This is where Miyazaki’s storytelling becomes deliberately uncomfortable. We see a man who should recognize the impact of his work but chooses not to. Most of The Wind Rises is told from Jiro’s point of view, making his moral compromises even more unsettling. He cares only about the beauty of flight and has no regard for its darker implications.
Miyazaki also uses dream sequences and lovely imagery to allow us to see how Jiro sees things, but I feel that we’re not supposed to just accept it as it is. Instead, we should pay attention to what Jiro refuses to see: like the suffering, the war, and how his wife’s health is failing.
Moreover, his meetings with Caproni, the Italian engineer, serve as both inspiration and warning. Caproni admits aeronautical are always used for their destructive potential but tells Jiro to do as his heart directs. This advice is appealing, yet deeply flawed, can art and innovation exist without considering their consequences?
The Wind Rises: A film that challenges, not comforts
The film’s ambiguity sparked strong reactions, particularly in East Asia. Many Korean viewers were quite upset that the 1923 Korean massacre was not even mentioned, believing that The Wind Rises completely downplays Japan’s historical atrocities. As there was no explicit denunciation of Japan’s war efforts, some people felt Miyazaki was being far too lenient on his nation’s history.
Japanese right-wing nationalists, however, hated the film because it portrayed the military as incompetent and because it subtly criticized Japan’s involvement in the war. Miyazaki’s clear antiwar stance, seen in his past works, led to accusations that The Wind Rises was unpatriotic.
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This is where the film was caught in a paradox: it was too critical for some and not critical enough for others. This speaks to its complexity, it refuses to offer an easy moral stance. So ultimately the brilliance of The Wind Rises is in its discomfort.
It is the question of whether ignorance is excusable if it is done out of passion, whether beauty can exist without responsibility, and whether we should pity a man who refuses to pay the cost of his ambitions. Miyazaki does not provide an answer, leaving it to us so that Jiro is not a hero to be followed, but a man to be questioned.
The Wind Rises is currently available to watch on Netflix.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
