Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Hayao Miyazaki directs some wonderful images, although in a few brief moments, one is unsure if there is an excuse for bad framing in an animated feature.

Miyazaki continues several major themes through most of his works, and two of them present themselves in this work as well. Both environmentalism (post-apocalyptic) and anti-war propaganda sprout up now and again and flash their rotting fangs.

It's nearly impossible among the current political rhetoric to be either anti-environment or pro-war, but that fact simply makes subtlety more necessary. There's no need to get so heavily didactic to someone who already agrees, and really, I can't see anyone disagreeing with anything as beautiful as that mouldy forest.

Artistically, though, the images in this film are wonderful and terrifying. The color palette seems to have been more pastel than is typical of anime. Pastel orange, whole scenes in blues and greens, and skies populated by darkening clouds fill the whole experience. The insect creatures can be a little nauseating for the arachnophobe, but they're made more soft and helpless with shading and color as well as characterization. The evil creatures with sharp edges and colors all turn out to be people, in Miyazaki's pessimistic anticipation of post-apocalyptic moronity.

In summary, it's not exactly the script of the century, but the images were well worth seeing.