Anime Eiga Review: Princess Mononoke

Film Synopsis

A small village is suddenly attacked by a ragging demon. To protect his people, Prince Ashitaka (voiced by Yoji Matsuda) pleads with the spirit to calm it's anger, but to no avail. With a heavy heart, Ashitaka is forced to slay the beast, but in the process he is cursed. The effects will eventually take his life, so Ashitaka heads out on a journey to hopefully find a cure.

During his travels, Ashitaka learns of the Deer God who might be able to save him. This leads him to a town which specializes in iron crafting. The settlement is run by Lady Eboshi (voiced by Yuko Tanaka), whose leadership has provided a safe haven for society's outcasts. However, Lady Eboshi’s ambition has led to massive deforestation which has upset the spirits of nature.

In particular, a powerful and ancient tribe of wolves continuously attack Lady Eboshi and her enterprise. While there's enough anger and hatred to go around, no member of the tribe harbors more resentment than its adoptive human daughter, San (voiced by Yuriko Ishida), who Lady Eboshi has been dubbed Princess Mononoke.

Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of these two unflinching forces. Although he wishes to find a cure for the curse which has befallen him, he takes it upon himself to try and pave a way for a peaceful coexistence.

This task will not be easy, for there are many who would rather die than allow their sworn enemy to continue living.

Ashitaka

Film Positives

I love this movie and have seen a number of times. So I’m thrilled to talk about it here during Ghibli Month.

San

That being said, WARNING, this is not a film for little kids. Yes this might be Ghibli; yes this might be Miyazaki, but My Neighbor Totoro this is not. There's a number of frightening and violent imagery.

Besides, there’s also a lot of heavy subjects in this film that younger audiences are maybe not ready to appreciate. For those who can though, Princess Mononoke is so good.

Lady Eboshi

Themes

This film touches on some rather thought provoking themes. The two which stand out the most is the conflict between Lady Eboshi and San, and Ashitaka’s response to it. 

The classic formula, mostly seen in Hollywood productions, has good guy fighting bad guy and in the end the good guy prevails. I won’t demonize this cliqued, many of the greatest films of all time follow this set up and even today it still works.

Ghibli itself isn’t immune to this. Castle in the Sky is brilliant and that story has a clear divide between good and evil. Now to be fair, most of the films thus far haven't had real villain. Think about it, taking Castle in the Sky out of the equation, what other Ghibli evil doers have there been?

There are variations to this formula.  Sometimes the bad guy wins. The hero may be triumphant but at terrible cost. The “hero” themselves may turn out to not be that heroic in the first place. But even in these situations, you still know who the “good” guy is meant to be. 

But now ask yourself. What happens when you can’t tell?

This is where Princess Mononoke comes in and this is perhaps the biggest reason why this film is so good. 

Although Ashitaka can be classified as the hero of the story, you never know what the "right side" is.  There are times when it seems San clearly has the moral high ground, but then it's hard to argue against Lady Eboshi at points. At other times San is being completely unreasonable, but then again Lady Eboshi also has a similar one track mind. This back and forth plays with you during the entire film.

Lady Eboshi is the leader of her town; a town that is not evil. The people in it don’t have any ill intent. This is a tight and loving community. The townspeople love and admire Lady Eboshi, who shows genuine affection towards them. To her, the progress everyone has made has meant prosperity and happiness. The iron works equal comfort and protection. From this view, San and the wolves seem bent on destroying the only place where everyone has been and will be accepted.

But San's not random and has an equally valid outlook. The forest is home to her and her family. She’s fighting against those who seem eager to destroy all that she knows and loves. For what purpose, a little more luxury? The town’s industry is destroying the landscape and Lady Eboshi is willing to kill the Deer God. Is it therefore not reasonable, nay expected to think she would push back against this?

The world, especially in the confines of this film, is not black and white. Good and evil are abstract concepts. One man’s terrorist could very well be another man’s freedom fighter.

This duality flows into the other theme of Princess Mononoke, Ashitaka’s response to Lady Eboshi and San’s battle. He could’ve easily picked a side, but he chose not to. Instead he chose to help both to the best of his abilities. By doing so, Ashitaka hoped to bridge some level of understanding.

I cannot believe I’m about to pull this out in one of my silly anime reviews, but back when I was in university there was a way of thinking I spend a good bit of time studying and it applies to this movie. Ashitaka’s actions illustrate the middle path. When stuck between a rock and a hard place, the best way forward is right down the center.

Where the f@#$ did that come from. Without throwing more academia at you, what I’m trying to say is Princess Mononoke isn’t your straightforward narrative. Because of that, not only is this movie fun as hell, it’s also fascinating.

Film Negatives

Although I just finished saying there weren't any villain in Princess Mononoke, I’m about to maybe contradict myself.

There’s one character who might be evil, and if not he's shady as s@#$. I'm referring to Jiko (voiced by Kaoru Kobayashi), who definitely has an agenda. This is the person who's pushing Lady Eboshi to kill the Dear God because he wishes to present it's head to the Emperor.

Why is this a negative?

Jiko’s inclusion in the film isn’t bad, but he doesn’t do a whole lot to add anything to do it. Lady Eboshi isn’t an idiot so she must have realized she was getting played. Even if she didn’t, Lady Eboshi has her own reason for wanting to kill the Dear God. So again, why is Jiko here?

When it looks like he’s about to get what he wants, he gives up pretty easily all things considered. Therefore, I can think of any purpose he serves to the story other than making the end motivations a little unclear.

For everything I love about this movie, this is one element which doesn’t make sense to me.

Final Thoughts

Of course I recommend this one. This is one of Miyazaki’s and Ghibli quintessential classics, and for good reason too.

The film, other than being f@#$ing beautiful, has so much going on in it. This is not your typical good versus evil story. This is going to make you think. Who's right, who's wrong? Or even better, is anyone right, is anyone wrong? This is a movie that's going to ask these questions.  

Everything about this film is just so amazingly well done. Every time I get a chance to watch Princess Mononoke I take it and you should too.

Ghibli Month will continue tomorrow with 1999’s My Neighbors the Yamadas.

               Google+                           Facebook                           Twitter