The Curse

Before I gave my laptop away (in exchange for a new one that is still on its way), I watched some scenes from Princess Mononoke, arguably the greatest animation film ever. (Do I hear a voice in my head asking me about Grave of the Fireflies?) Although I have been promised that all the stuff on my hard disk will remain on it, I am a little apprehensive - I fear I may never be able watch Princess Mononoke again. Princess Mononoke is a masterpiece - an achievement in animation, a hand-drawn full length animation film that rivals most computer-animated material, making up for what is lost without the computer with painterly richness.

Grave of the Fireflies has powerful images - perhaps not as beautiful as the image of Prince Ashitaka on his stag riding along the mountain, but so powerful that it makes you cry. Grave of the Fireflies touches you somehow, it makes you want to cry. It evokes nostalgia even though we haven't gone through anything even remotely similar to the experiences of the two children post the Hiroshima bombing.

Princess Mononoke does other things - it asks you questions of yourself and the way you live. It works in different layers as a spellbinding narrative and a big metaphor at the same time. It is contemporary and yet fantasy, it is unreal and yet real. Princess Mononoke tells you something about people - that there aren't good people and bad people, and that everybody has a reason for everything they do. And when the reasons are as strong as they are in this movie, you realise you have a tough time deciding who the villain in the movie is.

This post did not start off being about which is the better movie, or why Princess Mononoke is the greatest. This was about my most favourite scene in all animation, and amongst my most favourite in all cinema.

Ashitaka and Jigo, sitting around a campfire are discussing Ashitaka's curse and his mission. The conversation turns to everything that is wrong with the world - hunger, famine, disease, war, poverty. And Jigo asks, "So you say you're under a curse, so what, so is the whole damn world. "

Miyazaki, take a bow. Just for that line, you're the greatest ever.