The Boy and the Heron is set in 1943, when Japan was still suffering because of the Great Pacific War. Losing his mother in a fire at a Tokyo hospital, 12-year-old Mahito Maki and his father return to the suburbs, living with his aunt Natsuko and doting old maids. Here, Mahito encountered a strange image: a blue heron always trying to approach him. One day, a mysterious heron suddenly spoke, saying that Mahito could see his mother again if he stepped into an ancient tower inside the forest. The boy’s strange adventure across space and time begins.
The film had a very successful debut in North America and many countries around the world. The film surpassed Hollywood titles to dominate the North American box office, becoming the first Japanese animated film to achieve this impressive achievement. After achieving success in its home country of Japan and many countries around the world, the film came to Vietnamese audiences on December 15.
“Godfather” Hayao Miyazaki confided about Ghibli’s fate
Before The Boy and the Heron was released, there was a lot of information about the film being the “farewell” of veteran director Hayao Miyazaki. When the film was released, the content further reinforced this detail, as it clearly showed that Miyazaki wanted to close his Ghibli legacy, letting everything follow naturally instead of continuing to send Ghibli to the future. hands of the future.
It can be seen that the character King Bird in The Boy and the Heron is Hayao Miyazaki himself, and the main character Mahito is his nephew. Instead of continuing the “hereditary” tradition so that the Ghibli legacy can live on and on, Miyazaki, through the image of the Bird King, gives the next generation a chance to choose, and feel okay if they choose not to take over their “brainchild”.
Here, Mahito made the decision not to accept ruling the tower, and it still led to a beautiful ending for the movie. Connected to Miyazaki’s ideals, his descendants have the right to refuse to take over Ghibli and that’s okay. Ghibli will eventually fade away and disappear from cinema, and that’s okay. Sometimes we have to accept the end, no matter how beautiful the journey has been. From there, people can appreciate the present moment more, instead of forever worrying about whether there will be light at the end of the road or not.
The feast of eye-catching images is still a wonderful world that thousands of people love
Putting aside Hayao Miyazaki’s half-happy, half-sad feelings, The Boy and the Heron still meets fans’ expectations of a true Ghibli masterpiece. From the images, character designs to film colors, everything has been characterized by Ghibli from the past until now, not too much has changed even after decades. There is only one novelty, especially for Vietnamese audiences, that is when for the first time a Ghibli project is shown on the big screen in Vietnam, bringing modern, clear and captured image quality. much more attractive.
The world in The Boy and the Heron is still magical, curious and full of unique details. The film introduces the audience to many interesting creatures, such as “wara wara” (described by CBC News as “walking white marshmallows), or flocks of long-haired parrots that constantly appear. In addition, the project also boldly exploits the anecdote about “the afterlife” or the definition of “after death”, by letting Mahito embark on a journey to find his stepmother Natsuko but accidentally meets his deceased biological mother Hisako. From then on, Mahito – with the image representing both the director’s descendants and the perspective of Ghibli film-loving audiences, embarked on a journey of brokenness, maturity and acceptance.
Let’s love properly
Mahito is a boy who has gone through many pains: losing his mother, watching his father get a new wife, not getting along with his stepmother, and often hurting himself. That was one of the reasons he refused to become the tower’s ruler, because he had thoughts of doing the wrong thing. However, The Boy and the Heron was not made to expose Mahito’s crime, or just for Mahito to find his mother and embark on a fantasy adventure. Just like Chihiro of Spirited Away, Mahito in the movie has a big change in perception and action, gradually becomes more mature and knows how to make big decisions for himself.
“You can continue to follow in my footsteps, trying to keep everything under control until the day you leave this miserable world. Or, you can accept that life is chaos and you can only control a few things, then finally enjoy what you have”, the tower master’s line is considered the most important line of The Boy and the Heron. We cannot have everything we desire. Human power is limited, people can only control a few things. So why not devote all your thoughts and feelings to them instead of trying to cover everything?
Here, the right way to love is one of the big messages that The Boy and the Heron wants to convey. Wanting to have everything about yourself is not the way to love. Love means sometimes you have to sacrifice, give, and refuse. However, true love is also when we put aside our ego, recognize the good in the other person instead of pointing out the bad, and give each other altruism. The moment Mahito refused the Bird King’s proposal and accepted his stepmother Natsuko, that was when he learned his lesson of love.