The Boy And The Heron Review: Stunning Visuals, Phenomenal World Building Elevate This Emotionally Stunted Film

The Boy And The Heron

“They have gone wild! The parakeets have gone wild!”I thought to myself while watching Studio Ghibli’s ‘The Boy And The Heron’ which is now revered as a cinematic masterpiece. The film had a theatrical run in India earlier this year. It is now set to premiere on Netflix India on October 7. Hayao Miyazaki has won countless accolades for the film—Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film, People’s Choice Award at TIFF, Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards and the respected Ramon Magsaysay Award.

The Boy And The Heron: Plot

A few weeks before the film premiered on Netflix, I received the news of the health diagnosis of my estranged mother. I was fully expecting the film (which I was aware via trailer is about a boy who loses his mother and then goes on a journey to process this grief) to move me to tears. Much to my surprise, the emotional impact was almost entirely missing. Miyazaki has spent all his creative faculties on world building and creating stunning visuals. As a result. the film comes across as emotionally stunted.

Not a single scene moves you to tears. Even towards the end when fire maiden Himi is revealed to be Mahito’s mother, I was barely moved. Himi’s choice to stay back in the collapsing tower, despite knowing her fate in the hospital did bring a lump in my throat but that is about it.

In case you are expecting ‘Aftersun’-level deep dive into child psychology and what it means to lose a parent, you might have to manage your expectations.

The Boy And The Heron: Performances

And let’s not get started on the many answered questions. Why did Mahito’s mother Natsuko go into the tower/SeaWorld to deliver the baby? Why did she say “Mahito, I hate you”? More importantly—how did Mahito (who wasn’t willing to pay Natsuko a visit when she was sick) suddenly have a change of heart and had this newfound acceptance for his stepmother?

Credit where due, the film’s commentary on world-at-large works well. The pelican’s conversation with Mahito on how they are forced to eat warawara (the souls who mature and are reborn in the physical world) is an eye-opener. In the world created by the Wizard, there are rules. Pelicans eat fish. But owing to the lack of fish in the sea, they are forced to eat warawara. Due to constant attacks by pyrokinetic fire maiden Himi, the pelicans are likely to go extinct.

The Boy And The Heron: Writing And Direction

A disturbance in the food chain has begun. To protect warawara, the pelicans (who are shown as ferocious, evil birds) are slaughtered. Despite the many rules created by the Wizard of the tower, the species are struggling. The Sea World is anything but perfect. In fact, it might just be as messed up as the world above—especially with Parakeets planning to overthrow the Wizard.

Through rich world building, Miyazaki produces sharp commentary on disruption of food chains, interspecie relationships, the relationship between God and humans (think the Parakeet King wanting to create his own world as per the rules of the stone). Sea Worls is used as a space which allows Mahito to reunite with his mother. Mahito soon realizes— “the Sea world is not very different from our world”.

The Boy And The Heron: What Works, What Doesn’t

By conjuring the Sea World, Miyazaki asks pertinent questions—if there were to exist a new world with all the birds, animals and humans under a new creator, will it be a better place?

Parakeets are on top of this food chain as they feast on humans, birds and every other living thing. As the powerful and the rich on the top gain wealth, all societal structures and interspecie relationships collapse. The penultimate scene in the film offers stunning visuals—we see the Sea World melt (quite literally) as it collapses entirely.

Full marks to Studio Ghibli for creating such breathtaking visuals. Rarely has this critic wept not because of a character or a dialogue they said, but simply by looking at the majestic visuals of warawara maturing and moving towards the rebirth cycle. Lucky are those who got to witness this in IMAX.

The scene is powerful and open to interpretation—it almost feels like you are having a spiritual experience witnessing souls moving to a higher realm. You need no explanations, just the visuals suffice.

While I was initially bothered about the film not following a clear sequential plot, I was pleasantly surprised by what it managed to accomplish. Yes, there are plot points that will come across as disjointed. Hell, some scenes might just be incomprehensible unless you sit down and really decipher what some of the symbols mean (think granny dolls which are meant to protect Mahito). While ‘The Boy And The Heron’ is indeed phenomenal, it left me feeling underwhelmed on the emotional front. As the credits rolled, I realized I was waiting for a cathartic release which never came.

Star rating: 3.5 / 5 stars

The Boy And The Heron will stream on Netflix India October 7 onwards.