Kaze no Tani no Naushika – Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
More Miyazaki for you guys. Kaze no Tani no Naushika (aka “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind”) is one you might have heard of already; while not as popular as his most recent hits (Mononoke Hime, known in North America as “Princess Mononoke”, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, “Spirited Away” and most recently Hauru no Ugoku Shiro – “Howl’s Moving Castle”), Nausicaä was and still is a very formidable film. Produced in 1984, it is credited as being one of the first true hits for director Miyazaki Hayao.
Based on a manga that Miyazaki spent thirteen years writing, the story is as well akin to later hits; a lone heroine (and a princess at that) with a love for nature opposes those who are power-hungry and corrupt. In a post-holocaustal setting, the world is a desolate place and constantly threatened by huge monsters, the air is raft with poison, but Nausicaä continues to fight to make others understand that their world must begin a process of healing if humankind is to survive.
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