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Critic Calls Out The Wind Rises For Perpetuating Historical Revisionism

LA Weekly film critic Inkoo Kang denounced Miyazaki's latest film, The Wind Rises, for "perpe[tuating] Japanese society's deliberate misremembering and rewriting of history.

The film is a biopic of aircraft engineer Jiro Horikoshi (1903-1982), the designer of the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, an aircraft infamous for its brutal role in World War II.

In her piece, "The Trouble with The Wind Rises," Kang also says that "critics who fail to observe or protest Miyazaki's 'pussyfooting' around a regime that caused more deaths than the Holocaust aid and abet Japan's continued whitewashing of its war crimes." Kang continues to say that the film not only declines to challenge Japan's denial of wartime atrocities, but "worse, echoes Japan's morally dishonest stance that it was a victim, rather than a perpetrator, of a global war."

Check out Kang's thought-provoking piece here.

While the movie has been the target of a wide range of public criticisms, ranging from accusations that Miyazaki is "anti-Japanese" and a "traitor," to claims that the film is a celebration of Japan's wartime aggression, it has nevertheless been popular with many critics, enjoying an 83% rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Meanwhile, the film is nominated for "Best Foreign Language Film" for the 71st Annual Golden Globes, and has won a host of other awards.

The Wind Rises will open in North America on February 21, 2014.

Thanks to Daniel Zelter for the tip!