This Hayao Miyazaki World War II Piece Is Oppenheimer, but Make it Anime
The only flaw is that there is no Cillian Murphy in sight.
Summary:
- Oppenheimer is a Christopher Nolan movie that tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb.
- Hayao Miyazaki 's The Wind Rises chronicles the life of another scientist, Jiro Horikoshi, the designer of the Mitsubishi A5M fighter jet.
- Both Oppenheimer's and Horikoshi's inventions made their creators wish they had been used differently, even during the war.
There's no doubt that anyone who's seen Oppenheimer will still have some images or scenes from it stuck in their head. No matter how you feel about the atomic bomb, the movie makes everyone think about the responsibility scientists have for the creations they come up with.
It leaves an impact on every viewer, and all the awards that the cast and crew have received during the 2024 awards season only goes to prove this point.
However, Oppenheimer is not the only film that has pushed viewers towards this idea. Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises, which was released a full decade before Christopher Nolan's film in July 2013, deals with the same subject matter through a different personality, mostly known in Japan.
Who Is The Wind Rises About?
Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli, The Wind Rises was released locally in July 2023 and then brought to North America in February 2014. It quickly became a huge success, not only in Japan, where it became the highest grossing film of 2013, but also worldwide.
Although somewhat politically controversial in the East, it was loved by Western critics and audiences. The film was nominated for numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and the Japan Academy Award for Animation of the Year, which it subsequently won.
The Wind Rises tells the fictionalized but true story of Jiro Horikoshi, who was the chief engineer of many of Japan's World War II fighter plane designs. Much like J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist was not happy with the way his creations were ultimately used. However, he did not regret them and fulfilled his own ambition.
The movie stands with a strong critics' rating of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. Many positive reviews point out the beautiful visuals, the great pacing and the thoughtful portrayal of the scientists. What's even more interesting is that Emily Blunt, who took audiences' breath away as Kitty Oppenheimer, voiced the character of Nahoko Satomi, Horikoshi's true love.
If you have not yet seen The Wind Rises, or would like to refresh your memory of Hayao Miyazaki's hit, the movie is available for streaming on Max.