My Opera
My neighbor Totoro
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 6:13:22 PM
disclaimer: This is not a review or synopsis of the movie, but only my own reflection on the film.
How should it feel when you’re sitting on top of a giant ancient tree, everything within your eye’s range is soaked in mellow moonlight. You are trying to play a strange flute, managing to make stupid sounds only to make the night a little queerer. Sitting beside you are the spirits of the forest, playing an unknown tune on the strange flute…
Yes, the rest of the movie is as magical as the above sequence. This is one of those movies that make you want to love life once again, that make you wonder- if only we could treat people fairer… The warm feeling that embraces you throughout the movie doesn’t leave you soon. Now, how many movies can do that? Not only the characters, the relations between them, and the interplay that follows is what makes the source of that exquisite warmth. Gives you that life-assuring feeling that you may be almost afraid to lose.
I saw another movie, ‘Spirited away’, from the same director (Hayayo Miyazaki) a month before, and as soon as I began this one, I caught a common feature of the two famous works- the director’s faith in nature and his respectful attempt to convey his faith to his viewers. And he doesn’t try to make it scientific or anything, he rather takes up the easier way. He endorses the folklore instead, that may not be ‘scientific’, but does its job perfectly. His earnestness can be felt when the girls and their father bow to the tree thanking the forest spirits for being kind and protecting them. Miyazaki seems to be a person who believes that children should be allowed to dream and there are to be no hindrances to their imaginations. This is reflected in the father’s belief in the girls’ visions (which is made possible by his being an ‘archeologist’ I guess). Imagination should flow free and in his works nature (through various spirits and souls) occupies the central place, which has to be appeased in order to attain peace. and by appeased I don’t mean sacrifice or any similar activity, but understanding nature’s rules and respecting them just as an indigenous people or uncomplicated villagers might.
I’m not a film critic, but this much can be said that this timeless family movie, gracious as it is in its simplicity, is one of the few movies that felt totally engaging to me, making it for me one of the best of the promising genre that animation is.
If you wish to download the movie, here's your link- http://rapidshare.com/files/409563857/CWMNT_shan.rar
How should it feel when you’re sitting on top of a giant ancient tree, everything within your eye’s range is soaked in mellow moonlight. You are trying to play a strange flute, managing to make stupid sounds only to make the night a little queerer. Sitting beside you are the spirits of the forest, playing an unknown tune on the strange flute…
Yes, the rest of the movie is as magical as the above sequence. This is one of those movies that make you want to love life once again, that make you wonder- if only we could treat people fairer… The warm feeling that embraces you throughout the movie doesn’t leave you soon. Now, how many movies can do that? Not only the characters, the relations between them, and the interplay that follows is what makes the source of that exquisite warmth. Gives you that life-assuring feeling that you may be almost afraid to lose.
I saw another movie, ‘Spirited away’, from the same director (Hayayo Miyazaki) a month before, and as soon as I began this one, I caught a common feature of the two famous works- the director’s faith in nature and his respectful attempt to convey his faith to his viewers. And he doesn’t try to make it scientific or anything, he rather takes up the easier way. He endorses the folklore instead, that may not be ‘scientific’, but does its job perfectly. His earnestness can be felt when the girls and their father bow to the tree thanking the forest spirits for being kind and protecting them. Miyazaki seems to be a person who believes that children should be allowed to dream and there are to be no hindrances to their imaginations. This is reflected in the father’s belief in the girls’ visions (which is made possible by his being an ‘archeologist’ I guess). Imagination should flow free and in his works nature (through various spirits and souls) occupies the central place, which has to be appeased in order to attain peace. and by appeased I don’t mean sacrifice or any similar activity, but understanding nature’s rules and respecting them just as an indigenous people or uncomplicated villagers might.
I’m not a film critic, but this much can be said that this timeless family movie, gracious as it is in its simplicity, is one of the few movies that felt totally engaging to me, making it for me one of the best of the promising genre that animation is.
If you wish to download the movie, here's your link- http://rapidshare.com/files/409563857/CWMNT_shan.rar
Bhaswati Mazumdersymphonied # Tuesday, November 15, 2011 12:27:22 AM