Film Review: ‘Princess Mononoke’
A look into the resilience of nature and the human spirit
“Cut off a wolf’s head and it still has the power to bite.” — Lady Eboshi
When asking someone what was their first Studio Ghibli film that they watched, the answers that I’ve often seen or heard are usually ‘Spirited Away’, ‘My Neighbor Totoro’, and ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’. Mine was ‘Princess Mononoke’. It is one of my most treasured movies that I’ve watched because of its story, characters, animation, and soundtrack.
Story
Set in Muromachi Japan, the movie starts off with a demon boar god attacking an Emishi Village. The last Emishi Prince, Ashitaka, managed to kill it before it caused any more havoc. However, during the process, he was inflicted with a curse on his arm that granted him incredible strength but will eventually kill him. The Village Elder told him to go West to find the cure but at the same time, he had been exiled.
During the journey, he met a monk named Jigo who told him that the Great Forest Spirit would be able to cure him. Elsewhere, a group of villagers heading home were attacked by a wolf pack led by the Wolf Goddess, Moro, who was accompanied by her children including a human girl named San. The village leader, Lady Eboshi, managed to shoot Moro with an iron ball which sent her falling down the cliff. This eventually led to San and Ashitaka meeting for the first time at a river in the forest while San was tending to her mother’s wound.
Ashitaka heads to Iron Town to return the injured villagers that he rescued after the attack. He is welcomed by the villagers and Lady Eboshi herself. She explains to him that Iron Town was a safe haven for the outcasts and lepers who were currently employed to create firearms. It is also revealed that they had to destroy the forest to mine the iron and that she was the one that shot the boar god that cursed Ashitaka. Later on, San attacked the village again with the intention of finally killing Lady Eboshi so she wouldn’t be able to continue harming the forest. Ashitaka intervened in their fight and brought an unconscious San back to the forest while being injured himself after being shot by a bullet. After waking up, San decided to stab Ashitaka but stopped after he complimented her. Instead, she brought him deeper to the forest which allowed the Great Forest Spirit to heal his bullet wound.
The following day, another faction of boars led by the blind Okkoto plans to attack Iron Town with the help of San and her two wolf brothers. Lady Eboshi, Jigo (who was revealed to be a mercenary), and her soldiers venture into the forest to decapitate the Great Forest Spirit and give its head to the Emperor as it was believed it would grant him immortality. In exchange, Lady Eboshi would get protection for Iron Town against a rival feudal lord and Jigo would get a large reward.
Okkoto’s attack resulted in heavy losses for his side which caused them to retreat back into the forest only to be shot by mercenaries that turned him into a demon. Okkoto unknowingly led the mercenaries to the pool of the Forest Spirit. As Ashitaka rescued San from Okkoto, the Great Forest Spirit appeared and euthanized both Okkoto and Moro who was already weak from the cursed iron ball that was shot at her.
Without hesitation, Lady Eboshi shot the neck of the Great Forest Spirit and instructed Jigo and his mercenaries to seal it in a container. Black blobs from the headless Forest Spirit slowly engulfed the forest and that everything it touches would die. The severed head of Moro was brought back to life and bit off Lady Eboshi’s arm.
San and Ashitaka gave chase to Jigo and his mercenaries to take back the head. And without nowhere else to go, Jigo gave in and allowed the two to return its head. Once returned, the spirit washes over the land healing everything including Ashitaka’s curse. Lady Eboshi survived the attack and vowed to live in peace with nature while she rebuilds Iron Town with the help of Ashitaka. However, San opted to remain in the forest as she still could not forgive the humans. Eventually, the forest started to grow again.
The film’s central theme revolves around the protection of the environment, which can be seen by San and the other inhabitants of the forest attacking Iron Town because they are destroying it and when the Forest Spirit was shot and lost its head, it ravaged and brought destruction to the forest as well as Iron Town. This could also be seen as an allegory that if mankind keeps on damaging the environment, the chaos that will come back will be tenfold. Aside from the environmental themes, the other key theme that this movie deals with is social outcasts, looking at the treatment of people with disabilities and sickness (in this case leprosy), and prostitutes. Usually they are looked down by society but Lady Eboshi gave them jobs at the factory, manufacturing the weapons, and training them to defend their town. She didn’t discriminate against them and treats them like any other human.
Characters
The story revolves around 3 main characters: San — a human girl raised by wolves who protects the forest against the humans, Ashitaka — a prince searching for a cure for his curse inflicted by a demon boar, and Lady Eboshi — the leader of Iron Town who clearcuts the forest so that they can mine iron for the town’s defense.
San was given up to Moro, the Wolf God, when she was a baby as a sacrifice but instead of eating her, Moro raised San as one of her own. As a result, she grew up hating the humans (especially those that destroy her forest), mainly Lady Eboshi and the rest of Iron Town. But when she meets Ashitaka, she slowly becomes fond of him because of his respect to her and the forest. That changed her perspective as she realises that maybe not all humans are bad after all.
Prince Ashitaka was cursed by a boar demon after defending his homeland. This caused him to leave his town in search for a cure which brought him to Iron Town and saw him caught in between the fight of the forest Gods and Lady Eboshi. He tries to bring peace between them as much as possible.
Despite being the antagonist, Lady Eboshi is such a complex character because she is not your typical villain. She had her reasons on why she’s destroying the forest, which was for Iron Town’s self defense against other clans since the town was mainly a refuge for outcasts and lepers. This was explained to Ashitaka during his first night at Iron Town. Furthermore, Lady Eboshi gave jobs to women, who were previously working at brothels, that would help progress Iron Town. And by the end of the story, Lady Eboshi was determined to be a better leader for Iron Town and to not harm the forest again.
Animation and Soundtrack
The making of Princess Mononoke was mostly done using cel animation and only 10% was done using computer animation and it’s mainly to support the traditional animation. The most notable CG were the demon worms which were then composited on Ashitaka’s arm. ‘Princess Mononoke’ is the last Studio Ghibli film that was cel produced.
Additionally, this film has one of the best soundtracks ever made which was composed by frequent Ghibli collaborator Joe Hisaishi and was performed by the Tokyo City Philharmonic and the Czech Philharmonic for the third version of the soundtrack. In the English Dub, the song “Nobody Knows Your Heart” was the most memorable one for me.
To sum it all up, Princess Mononoke is one of the most riveting films ever produced by Studio Ghibli due to its serious nature and its stark differences to the usual light-hearted Ghibli movies. This will forever be one of the greatest movies I’ve ever seen.
