Behind the polished images, the superb colors and the meticulous animation, the anguish of the creator. Hayao Miyazaki, father of a fabulous universe where anti-fascist pigs, miniature witches and wild boar gods meet, does not draw his inspiration from Japanese myths and legends alone.
He is a child of his time, deeply marked by the war, but also contrary to what we think of boomers, by the ecological emergency. As it developed, its work produced “luminous films of deeply worried realism about the state of the world”says the director of this documentary, Léo Favier.
An almost anti-speciesist environmentalist concern
Miyazaki is a “consciousness of the world”essentially the impact of humanity “obsessed with war and conquest”leaving behind “devastated landscapes”. But if the films of the anti-nuclear and anti-militarist activist, marked by “Marxist and pacifist values”know how to dwell on the harmful consequences of this state of mind, they also call for a return to nature, to the simplicity of the relationships between the dominant species – us, currently – and its environment.
“We are all born of the forest”thus likes to recall the author. An environmentalist, almost anti-speciesist concern, born from his animist faith, which we can see reflected in My Neighbor Totoro, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind or even Ponyo on the cliffwhich discusses the necessary adaptations to climate change. But it is undoubtedly Princess Mononoke which most asserts its point.
It is undoubtedly this work from 1997 which best expresses “his deepest convictions and his most intimate doubts”says Léo Favier. Miyazaki himself said then that he wanted to make a film that broke with good feelings: “We have made a lot of films that inspire children to be joyful and hopeful (…) to comfort and encourage them. But given the reality they are going through, this encouragement is not enough. (…) Where is the world going? Are humans doing what is right? If we avoid these questions, our encouragement is in vain, because it then amounts to avoiding talking about the real issues. »
His entire life as an artist was marked by these back and forths between hope and pessimism. It’s also due to his way of working: a lot of work, but an instinctive process, where only the final assembly of thousands of images gives a complete picture. Very human, ultimately.
Miyazaki, the spirit of nature, Arte, Friday, 10:45 p.m.
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