Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind directed by Hayao Miyazaki is a wonderful film about a princess Nausicaa. The film starts with another character though. Master Yupa is exploring an abandoned town that has been infected by the toxic forest. This first scene gives us an idea about what the rest of the film has in store. There is a very delicate relationship between the people of the Valley of the Wind. This toxic forest has been slowly expanding. Then it goes to Nausicaa exploring the forest. She is wearing a mask that protects her from the toxic are of the forest. While she is exploring, she finds the exoskeleton of an Ohmu. An Ohmu is a giant sand crab like creature with multiple eyes. She explores its giant shell and takes one of its eye caps and is hoping to return home when she runs into Master Yupa being chased by a very angry Ohmu. Nausicaa gets on her glider (super cool) and flies to his rescue where she calms the Ohmu and guides it back to the forest. At this point you begin to see the value that Nausicaa places in the environment. They return to the valley where Nausicaa tells the village where the Ohmu shell can be found so that they can use it building material. Shortly after they return to the valley a plane crashes containing dangerous cargo, and the owners of the ship, the Tolmekians occupy the valley. Throughout the rest of the film Nausicaa is trying to escape their control, and stop another group of people, the Pejites from destroying their world by angering the Ohmu and causing a stampede.

                This is an excellent film that looks at the relationship between people over land and resources, and the relationship between people and the land. They show these struggles between the Tolmekians, and the Pejites. The Pejites have had their home destroyed by the Tolmekians who crave power. The relationship between Nausicaa and nature is the one that stands out to me throughout this film. Her ability to calm the insects when they were angered, and to stand up against all odds for their safety. At the end of the film she stops the giant stampede and saves the baby Ohmu and in a way brings peace to the Valley of the Wind. In the article An Ecocritical Reading of Hayao Miyzaki’s Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind: Territory, Toxicity, and Animals by Phacharawan Boonpromkul they discuss how this film speaks to many of the environmental concerns that we deal with today over 30 years since this film was made. It is powerful to see the impact that this film still has today.