Round 3
Pick #5 (#35 overall)
Princess Mononoke by Hayao Miyazaki (1997)
I just watched this a few days ago and I thought it was amazing. Miyazaki is famous for many movies including greats such as Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, but I thought this movie was much better than those. It was outstanding.
The story involves a prince (Ichataki), who gets cursed by a big boar. His own people banish him and he goes to the West to find a cure. On the way he lands in the middle of a battle between humans and nature. Nature is represented by a wolf clan lead by a girl (Princess Mononoke) raised by wolves.
The genius of the movie is that there are no villains. You might like some characters more than others, but all characters (except perhaps Ichataki) have great qualities and bad qualities. I think this is a model for real life in many ways. For example, the humans are not evilly trying to destroy the forest, they are doing it for their own survival and at the same time, their leader is a woman that believes in human rights (rescuing women from brothels and helping diseased men, finding them jobs). The animals aren't evil, either, they are just trying to protect their home. I think this can be modeled for instance to look at Republicans and Democrats. If you were raised in a Democrat environment, you very likely hate Republicans and vice versa. The political climate is so polarized that there's no room for compromise. Similarly, the characters in the movie just hate for no other reason than "they are on the other side".
I think the message of the movie is to strive for peace and repel hate. I was impressed with how a movie with no clear good versus evil could be so thrilling and entertaining. It is apparently the second longest animated movie (it lasts 134 minutes), but it is not boring at any moment. I was very impressed and because of this movie I now understand the love for Miyazaki's films.
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The Matrix Wackowski brothers, (1999)
[b]12 Monkeys[b] Terry Gilliam, (1995)
Princess Mononoke Hayao Miyazaki (1997)