Retrospective Film Review

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) • 40 Years Later — mesmerising tale of compassion in stunning animation

Warrior and pacifist Princess Nausicaä desperately struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and their dying planet.

A cloaked figure trudges through the dusty, arid landscape. Ruins lie around them, remnants of a world that has utterly deteriorated, a civilisation that disintegrated due to human myopia. Pulling their cloak tighter, they turn away from the ruins and plod on, leading their pack animal behind them. “Let’s go,” they mutter. “Soon this place too will be consumed by the toxic jungle.”

This is the world humans must now inhabit: a post-apocalyptic wasteland, devoid of vegetation except for the ever-encroaching toxic jungle. This environment suffocates and throttles life by emitting noxious gases and poisonous spores. Few cities still prevail, causing both existential dread and debilitating factionalism. Instead of tackling the environmental fallout mankind created…