TIFF Movie Review – The Wind Rises (2013)

An animated biopic about Jiro Horikoshi who designed Japanese fighter planes during World War II.

Like all great creators Jiro Horikoshi is driven to make his dreams become reality.  As a boy he becomes so fascinated in airplanes that he imagines having conversations with the great Italian inventor Caproni.  The aspiring aircraft designer heads off to university and gets caught in the middle of a devastating earthquake which leads to an encounter with his future wife.  With Japan determined to become less dependent on German technology, Horikoshi embarks on the quest to make the ambition come true.

Filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) has a love for airplanes and has wanted to do a film about the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake thereby making The Wind Rises the perfect project for him.  Two stories with the first being the need to design a Japanese fighter plane and the second a tragic love story.  Compared to previous films helmed by Miyazaki, his latest and possibly last one lacks the environmental darkness. A hopeful attitude prevails as the human spirit is celebrated.

Dreams are plentiful, the earthquake sequence is spectacular, and the romantic courtship scene featuring various paper airplanes is charming.  Nuances are incorporated into the animation such as Honjô nervously jiggling his leg, pebbles rolling over each other, and blurred shots when Horikoshi does not have his glasses on.  Quite simply The Wind Rises is masterfully crafted film which has a story to tell.