The Boy and the Heron - Stoic Structure
Thoughts On: The Boy and the Heron (2023)
A boy and his father move to a mystic new house after his mother dies during WWII.
One of Miyazaki’s best; a piece of cinematic magic without flaw. An enthralling adventure into the fantastical collective unconscious of a family restructuring itself amid war, The Boy and the Heron is an amalgam of multiple Takahata and Miyazaki Ghibli narratives. Familiar but not at all unoriginal, this structurally, thematically and aesthetically sits between Grave of the Fireflies, My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away. Miyazaki elevates the realism (the grounding of war-time thematics) and impressionism of Grave of the Fireflies with IMAX wonder, basing the story and characters in fiery tragedy to contemplate death and familial change through a child’s eyes as is done in My Neighbour Totoro. Furthering this with a moral movement into fantasy, The Boy and the Heron is structured much like Totoro and Spirited Away. Realism then dissolves into mystic surrealism, sending us diving head first into a self-contained and organic world in which our adolescent protagonist is challenged to process and overcome the death of his mother.
Without delving into spoilers, it could be said that The Boy and the Heron crystallises a rather conservative and traditional notion of an honorable family, and in such feels familiar to other great Japanese war-time narratives such as the monstrously iconic Ozu masterpiece, Late Spring. Both make the assertion that family structure presides over and is of greater importance than individual, and that stoic sacrifice frees the individual into the family structure (as opposed to entrapping them within it). The fantastical world we become lost in with our protagonist is one that teaches us of our own blemishes and humanity, therefore the limitations of our morality and conscious good intentions. To do what is correct is to follow and maintain the structure that nurtures you as opposed to aspiring toward the creation of your own utopia, which will inevitably be a wasted effort.
My favorite cinematic experience of 2023 without a doubt; cinema is blessed to still have Ghibli and Miyazaki about doing the lord’s work. Watch it subbed if you can - my recommendation.
