10 War Films Where Everyone Survives
3. The Wind Rises
Hayao Miyazaki’s entire career has been populated by his love of airplanes, animating beautiful set pieces involving them in Nausicaa and Castle in the Sky, building an entire narrative around a pig pilot in Porco Rosso, and so on.
As one of the greatest filmmakers, Miyazaki’s 2013 masterpiece takes a perspective on war unexpected for many Western audiences.
Instead of exploring the guilt of a soldier directly involved in firing a weapon upon the enemy, Miyazaki explores the guilt of an artist whose creations are used to murder thousands of people. While there’s never a character dying on screen, with gusts of wind being used to signify the passing of major characters, death and war haunts every second of its protagonist Jiro.
Set over the course of decades, including during and after World War 2, the lingering spectre of national failure and personal guilt looms over everything. Jiro can’t even get to use his dreams as an escape, as they become a reminder of all he has lost, as an artist and a man. It’s one of the best films of the 21st century; and an essential atypical war film.