Nausicaa Review

Miyazaki Hayao’s Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind or 風の谷のナウシカ (1984) follows many of the conventions that appear in many of his films. This film connects to his other films with the strong female protagonist, the concern for the environment, a strong female antagonist, and the need to save the world through cooperation with the environment. Nausicaa also shows a connection to Greek mythology, especially with the name Nausicaa, which means “ship-burner”.  Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind shares many aspects with Princess Mononoke such as a strong female protagonist, the world on the verge of destruction and the interaction between humans and the environment.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind explores the world about 1000 years in the future, after a time when modern civilization was destroyed after a war, when a Toxic Jungle has engulfed the world. The Toxic Jungle while poisonous to humans also is the habitat of millions of insects, including large ones that can topple cities called the Ohm. Among the remaining human settlements is the Valley of the Wind, which sets on the edge of an ocean. The princess of the Valley of the Wind, Nausicaa, spends her time exploring the Toxic Jungle and finding ways to understand the ever-changing world around her. However, soon after Lord Yupa returns to the valley, an airship crashes in the valley. The airship was carrying princess from a neighboring kingdom and the body of the beings that destroyed the world in the first place. The kingdom known as Tolmekia attempts to use to the being known as the Giant Warrior to kill the Ohm and destroy the Toxic Jungle. While preparing the Giant Warrior, Nausicaa and some of the people of the village are captured and taken to Tolmekia, but before they can arrive the airship that they are in is gunned down by another nation, Pejite. As Nausicaa falls through the Toxic Jungle, she runs into the pilot that shot the airship down. While Nausicaa and the pilot are in the forest, they fall through the forest into an underground cavern. The cavern shows how the Toxic Jungle purifies the planet from the effects of human pollution. As the film, progresses Nausicaa returns to the Valley of the Wind to save the people from a horde of Ohm stampeding toward the valley. In the process, of saving the valley, Nausicaa fulfills an ancient prophecy of an individual who would appear and save the world.

In Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Nausicaa is the resourceful, young princess who attempts to find a cure for her father’s illness and understand the Toxic Jungle. San and Nausicaa both are shown as warrior princess trying to fight for their respective causes. Nausicaa relates to San since they both understand the world around them, which is often depicted as dangerous to normal people, San since she was raised by the gods of the forest and Nausicaa because she has learned the nature of how the plants in the Toxic Jungle function. However, Nausicaa’s connection to the people of her village shows a connection to people over the land. Unlike San, Nausicaa seems to retain a connection to people, similar to Ashitaka. The relation to Ashitaka is shown through the secluded nature of the Valley of the Wind, similar to his village in Princess Mononoke. The Valley of the Wind shows a closer relationship to the earth rather than violence prized by other kingdoms. Nausicaa also shows the connection between humans and nature, when she returns an Ohm baby to the pack before the pack destroys the people of the Valley of the Wind. This action shows how Nausicaa does not want bad feelings between the people and the insects of the Toxic Jungle, but Nausicaa also understands how the Toxic Jungle purifies the Earth that humans ruined. During the film, there is the constant question if Nausicaa is more connected to the earth or to the people, especially when lines like, “The insects have bewitched her…”, which shows the worry that Nausicaa may pick the jungle over her subjects.

Nausicaa also features a character similar to Lady Eboshi of Princess Mononoke. Princess Kushana is the leader of the Tolmekian forces that crash in the Valley of the Wind, she is portrayed a good military leader, but bitter towards the Toxic Jungle and the insects that reside there. It is shown in the film that Kushana has lost limbs to the insects and seeks to destroy them with the Giant Warrior. Princess Kushana is similar to Lady Eboshi since they both seek to destroy life forms that protect the natural world, but more than that, both women represent women in a traditionally male spaces.  Kushana attempts to redeem herself by annihilating the Toxic Jungle, but eventually fails when the Giant Warrior falls apart during the attack on the Ohm.

In Princess Mononoke, the many different animals and kami act as guardians of the forest as they fight the humans that destroy the environment. The Toxic Jungle acts as its own guardian as it kills anyone who enters without a mask, but the added guardians are the insects and the Ohm that live in the jungle. Similar to the kami of Princess Mononoke, the Ohm tend to be docile creatures, but when they are enraged they attack and can destroy civilizations. The poisons of the jungle and the poor treatment transformed the planet into a hostile creature that must protect its self for humans, possibly by killing them.  The jungle and the insects are the result of human errors and thus they rage they show may be representative of how the environment feels. When Nausicaa is under the forest and observes that the forest must purify its self by hiding the new earth underneath the façade of the dangerous and deadly toxins. The new part of the forest may show how the humans cannot see how the new world since they will destroy it again.

Miyazaki explores the possibility of a destruction of human civilization by several days of fire, possibly harking to the possibility of a nuclear disaster. A nuclear disaster would mutate the Earth and force the planet to try to save its self. The Valley of the Wind represents a kingdom attempting to live in harmony with the new environment that has taken over the planet and Nausicaa tries to reconcile humans and the planet that humans destroyed. As the film progresses, Nausicaa learns more and more about the Toxic Jungle and the people who fear it rather than attempt to live it.  The use of the Giant Warrior shows how people would rather live in horror with a potential destructive power rather than face their own past mistakes. The terror that grips people in the film is created by jealousy of others and fear of the unknown, but Nausicaa fights against those feelings.  Finally Nausicaa saves the people of her kingdom and establishes a relationship with the Ohm, which shows how people truly can reconcile with the planet. Miyazaki uses the film to explore the possibility of how humans can shape the world that they reside in, with either violence and anger or compassion and understanding.