How do you live?

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The english release for this movie had it titled “The Boy and the Heron” but I believe the original title “How do you live?” fits the movie much more. The movie is heavily semi-autobiographical, as it is inspired by Miyazaki’s childhood (endured the firebombing of Japan during World War II and his father owned an aircraft manufacturing company).

The film is packed to the brim with themes, very abstract and surreal. There are many ways you can look at it but in my opinion it is ultimately about death, grief and dealing with loss. The movie is about Mahito coming to terms with his mothers death and his new life. He has a hard time adjusting to his new life. He got bullied at school for being wealthy and his father partaking in the war effort. As a result he hits himself in the head with a rock and bleeds out so he can stay home.

Eventually the Heron takes his new mom into the fantasy world and Mahito goes in there to save her in which the tone of the movie changes completely. The way the fantasy world was presented felt much more like ‘escapism’ rather than a joyful playful world. The world is seemingly parallel to the normal world. There are lots of characters and references that connect between both worlds. Most importantly, Mahito meets his mother, the one who he has been missing griefing for so long, Himi, here. However there exists lots of malice in this world- The pelicans eating the warawaras and the whole situation with the parakeets and their murderous intent. Then comes in the Great Uncle and his building blocks. The blocks are there to keep the balance and order of the world and he asks Mahito to be his successor, continue building the blocks of the world, maintaining the order of the world to fit his choosing. He could get rid of all the bad in the world if he wanted to and live a perfect life. But after his experiences throughout the story, he ultimately refused. We can’t live with the fantasies of those we lost forever, we must move on and live our current life to the fullest. Going through the bad is what makes life worth living.

And of course, the movie is fantastic visually, its a ghibli movie.

The movie is fantastically rich which came off as both a good and bad thing. One of the more negative results of this is the movie can just come off too hard to understand. There are lots of things that could have gone more in depth such as the feelings of Mahitos' new mom adjusting to this new life also. In the delivery room scene she yells at Mahito telling she hates him and such. Now I believe this is because she was dealing with many hardships and this fantasy world felt as an escape for her, but seeing Mahito reminded her of the normal world. This scene is not very clear and is just one of the many questions that leaves viewers puzzled. Not going into her struggles makes it harder to connect with this scene. A proper story shouldn’t be spoon fed to the viewers but often this movie felt very unclear in its final destination. The introduction of events one after another without proper explanation made for a very disjointed viewing experience.

Overall, How do you live? is a great movie with a good message but didn’t have the best plot structure and could have spent more time delving into the mind of some characters more.