For a switch of pace, I decided to review an animation film. Of course I had to start with the beauty that is Studio Ghibli films! Here is just one of Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpieces: Spirited Away.
This film is one of the most memorable films from my childhood. The best part is that even now as an adult, I still enjoy it like when I was a child. The beauty of Miyazaki films is that pretty much all age demographics enjoy it. Spirited Away was released in 2001 and I’ve grown up watching this film over and over again. It has that rewatchability quality that never fades. It’s just as magical as the first time I’ve watched it.
Hayao Miyazaki is known for his talented knack for creating a certain ambience in his films. It is nostalgia inducing and takes us back to a time to when life was simpler. The soft, melodic soundtrack coupled with the eye-catching animations that are hand drawn with precision create this gorgeous aesthetic that’s completely timeless.
Chihiro represents childlike innocence. She carries the narrative through the audience’s eyes. The film starts off with Chihiro exasperated with the fact her family is moving. She’s sullen and down but her parents are oblivious to her. When they get lost driving into a strange and magical land unbeknownst to them, her parents get caught up in the spiritual restaurant and devour the food, indirectly cursing themselves into pigs. Chihiro discovers she is forced to stay in the spirit world and navigates her new life there. She’s given a job and loses her identity “Chihiro”. She is renamed “Sen” and slowly starts forgetting her original identity.
Throughout the film we watch Chihiro’s growth. While she’s adjusting to her new life in the spiritual realm, we can see she has matured quite a lot. She went from being just a little kid who didn’t know much about chores to someone who is multitasking labor meant for adults. At the beginning of the film, Chihiro was best described as spoiled and immature. As the film progresses, however, she starts behaving a bit more appreciative for small gestures and reacts to change relatively well rather than shunning change and wishing for the past like she did in the start of the film. She’s no longer characterized as spoiled but rather more grateful.
Chihiro still has the passion to reclaim her old life and focuses all her energy on saving her parents. Haku, one of her closest companions in the spirit realm, is one of the few people she trusts. Chihiro’s trust carries a deeper meaning because there were several instances in which she was very suspicious and distrustful of the environment around her. Despite the warnings she gets from the other spirits to stay away from Haku, she wholeheartedly believes that he has good intentions deep down. He warns her to cling to any bit of her old identity if she ever wants to leave the spirit world and return home to the mortal world. Her unwavering trust in him creates a meaningful friendship between the two of them that definitely pays off when he helps save her. Her instincts proving right once again.
The emphasis placed on identities is quite interesting in this film because it can be applied to real life as well. As Noriko T. Reider so eloquently stated in his essay, Spirited Away: Film of the Fantastic and Evolving Japanese Folk Symbols, “The act of depriving a person of one’s name has far more reaching consequences and implications than simply affecting how one person addresses another; the very act implies total control over the person whose name is being withheld.” You see, when Chihiro lost her name and gained a new one, she struggled with not getting lost in her environment. The lack of control she had in her new job and her new home made it so difficult for her to remember to go back home. Had Haku not helped her and had she not had internal growth within herself, she most likely would have permanently stayed in the Spirit Realm. Her growth is the reason why she was able to make it back home with her parents safely.
The cinematography in this film is quite honestly so captivating. Miyazaki stated he didn’t even have the script completed when he started filming it. The film just blossomed on it’s on as it progressed and the story just felt so much more intimate because of its natural progression. Miyazaki made point to also have moments in the film where it’s just silence. The ambience is visually built up from the quiet and peaceful scenery. It takes the audience to a place of nostalgia, wishing for the past just like Chihiro was wishing for the past. Miyazaki calls these quiet moments “ma” which means “emptiness” in Japanese. “The people who make the movies are scared of silence, so they want to paper and plaster it over,” he states. “They’re worried that the audience will get bored. But just because it’s 80 percent intense all the time, doesn’t mean the kids are going to bless you with their concentration. What really matters is the underlying emotions—that you never let go of those.”
This film has developed a cult following, and for good reason as well! For those living under a rock and have not yet seen it: PLEASE WATCH IT!!!!! You won’t regret it.
film raves 