The Blue Princess

Note: This review contains minor spoilers.

Snow White sure had it rough, didn’t she? Living with dwarves. Getting drugged by her stepmother. Course, Aurora didn’t have it easy either. She had to take a nap. Not to mention she had to grow up in an enchanted forest with some fairies. Poor Cinderella only had one fairy to help her. And she had some intense family drama to deal with. Count on Disney to be edgy. 14 years before a Disney princess became a soldier, there was Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, the first film directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Nausicaa also faced some mild annoyances, like getting burned by acid, inhaling poison, getting bitten and stampeded over, and getting shot by a machine gun. Trifles. Luckily, Nausicaa has mad glider skills to help her get through it all.

Long after an apocalyptic war, Earth’s ecosystem is still all messed up. Humanity is splintered, struggling to survive. You’ve got the Pejites and the Tolmekians, who want to destroy the jungle and each other, and the people of the Valley of the Wind who seem to pretty much mind their own business, but will nonetheless find themselves smack in the middle of a fight between the Pejites and the Tolmekians over control of a powerful monster left over from the great war. Nausicaa is a warrior but she is also a pacifist, believing people can live in harmony with nature if they’re patient and smart. She doesn’t fear the giant insects or anything else from the toxic jungle the way the Pejites and Tolmekians do. She has even managed to grow plants on her own. These plants would normally be poisonous, but she has found a way to keep them pure. The only thing in the movie that gives her pause is how violent she becomes in the moments after her father is murdered by the Tolmekians. I’m willing to cut her some slack for that.

I was completely blown away by this film. No way did I expect an animated film from 1984 to be so complex and thrilling. Giant insect attacks and airship battles are the tip of the iceberg. The visuals are amazing as well. Miyazaki consistently packs the frame with rich detail. Something I’ve always liked about Miyazaki’s stuff is the way it takes the weird and the mysterious and makes it appear strange yet beautiful, like the poisonous jungle filled with its toxic spores. Miyazaki’s films frequently have environmentalist themes, and Nausicaa is no exception, but I never felt the message got in the way of the movie.

Like many princesses, Nausicaa is good with animals. But this is not Sleeping Beauty dancing around in the forest with animals pretending to be a prince. When presented with a frightened fox-squirrel near the start of the film, Nausicaa tries to calm it. It bites her, drawing blood. Her face does not twitch. She continues to whisper gently to the creature until it finally relaxes. It will spend the rest of the movie perched on her shoulder, a constant reminder to the audience of Nausicaa’s fearlessness and her commitment to helping others. She does not hesitate to risk her own life for the sake of others, at one point taking off her mask while flying through toxic air so she can yell instructions to others. With a smile on her face, she gives them a thumbs-up. Joel Schumacher must have been very impressed by this image since he decided Batman should do the same thing in Batman Forever. Nausicaa pulls it off much better.

I have to say, a Miyazaki film was a good way to begin my foray into anime. I’ve seen two other Miyazaki films, and those also refuse to be a cut and dry affair. Moral ambiguity surrounds Miyazaki’s villains. The Tolmekians and Pejites are no exception. Like the fox-squirrel, they lash out violently because of their own fear. Nausicaa is a true hero, using her own bravery to help others conquer their fear, even when they have become violent. Fear with bravery. Violence with peace. Her courage makes Nausicaa one of the most formidable princesses in animation. If you haven’t seen Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, you should.