Spoiler Alert
Hayao Miyazaki‘s latest film is perhaps his most personal. Unless fans know what his younger life was like, it’s easy not to understand what The Boy and the Heron are about. This semi-autobiographical work released by Studio Ghibli has lots of imagery to unpack, and not all of them subscribe to his beliefs regarding Shintoism.
Instead, I recommend watching the documentary “Never Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki.” (review and Amazon link) Even without this knowledge, what’s presented is more than his usual coming-of-age story about a youth not accepting the future, and being willing to move on.
When considering, this movie refers to Genzaburo Yoshino‘s book, “How Do You Live?” this theme is not all that surprising. Here, Mahito (Soma Santoki) is struggling to deal with life without a mother. This feature shows how Hisako died in a hospital fire. This happens during the onset of the Asian Pacific War, and is not a result of recent bombing, otherwise there would be American planes seen leaving the scene.
Continue reading “Unpacking The Boy and The Heron, and Reflecting on What is Not A Swan Song”