Message from aarmas

[Anonymous]

On a previous occasion I posted a review of this film, and I was a bit concerned last Thursday when Clayton mentioned that it wasn't on. So here I go again.

"Spirited Away" is not your typical animated story. It reaches deep inside universal themes of love, longing, despair, and hope. It does it quite well, in a deceptively simple manner, at a very leisured pace, and it succeeds.

My students last year had the opportunity to watch this film over a period of 4 days, and they were very impressed by how different the animation style was. They also managed to understand some of the underlying themes: environment, tradition, etc. One of the scenes stood out during our viewings: the river ghost comes in for a bath, and as we witness his cleansing, we are able to understand, shockingly, how we have been making a mess of our lovely planet. It is an interesting metaphore, and it addresses the problem subtly and directly. My kids had no problem getting the message.

At first, they were a bit intimidated by the cultural references, and the differences in customs the animation portrayed. Later on, they established the connection between the family dynamics in the film and their own. Their identification with the story's heroine was effective, and they tagged along for a fantastic ride into a new and marvelous world. We didn't analyze in depth, but used its structure to study cultural differences between the West and the East, as well as going over the old reliable elements of plot. What they loved was the style, and the ability to see animation and imagination reaching a creative peak. "Spirited Away" is refreshing and enlighting, and it is comforting because it doesn't confront or antagonize its audience. It embraces the viewer with a different way to explore classic themes.

A+