When
I was a kid, one of my favorite folk tales was ‘Kaguya hime or Princess
Kaguya.’ I read it over and over
again and I still remember the scene in which the messengers from the moon
descend to Earth to pick the Princess up with the full moon as a backdrop. It was not only beautiful and owe
inspiring, but made me aware of the existence of outer space and the creatures
living there for the first time.
It’s
amazing that the story dates back to the 10th century. It’s the oldest-known science fiction
narrative to exist. Isn’t it
fun to think that people 1,000 years ago imagined aliens on the moon as they
looked up at the sky? For me, as a
four or five year old kid, Princess Kaguya was nothing but an alien who tried
to contact us like ET.
The
original story writes that one day, an old bamboo woodcutter finds a bamboo
tree glowing mysteriously while he is working. A beautiful baby girl appears from it. The old woodcutter and his wife think that
the baby is a gift and raise her as their own. After, she grows up into a
beautiful princess, princes and even the Emperor himself vies for her
affection. However, she returns to
her home on the moon leaving the Emperor alone and heartbroken.
Ghibli’s
latest animation, ‘The Tale of Princess Kaguya’ is based on this story. The difference is that Takahata, the
directer of the film has embodied the character of Kaguya and has added the
reasons why she came down to Earth and had to return to the moon. As the tag line of the film goes “A princess’ crime and punishment,” the
reasons are the clue to understand the film.
Takahata depicts the liveliness of
everything on the earth closely with seemingly rough and dynamic strokes. When Princess Kaguya runs though the
field, gentle breeze blows and the grass bends joyfully along with it. Birds, insects, animals, grass, trees
and flowers, everything is alive. Our
lives are filled with brightness, even though we have to go through sufferings. Despite fear, anger, and sadness, our
lives are wonderfully original.
The film brilliantly illuminates it with images of life.
I
longed for the moon when I was a kid.
On the contrary, Princess Kaguya longed for the earth. It can be said that the film tells
something important from the viewpoint of an outsider. It’s a cerebration of life on earth.
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にほんブログ村
I'd been interested in this film, but your review makes me want to see it even more! I like your childhood memory of the story. I don't think I imagined that much about the moon when I was little, though I vaguely remember that I rediscovered the charm of the story in high school when we read Taketori-monogatari. I never realized it was a pretty setsunai story up till then.
返信削除I think it’s quite cool that we were familiar with the world oldest SF narrative when we were very little kids. In this film, Takahata created his Princess Kaguya, who we have never known what she is like. She is very sweet especially when she was a little girl. She is more like “mushimezuru-himegimi” rather than “kaguya-hime.” ww
削除There is one scene that I don’t like, but I won’t talk about it because you might see the film after this. www