What i love about this film is the way in which the narrative explores the various paradoxes and juxtapositions of the human experience and matters of the heart through the common theme of WIND -
THE WIND BRINGS WONDERFUL LIFE GIVING EXPERIENCES, BUT CAN ALSO BRING DESTRUCTION : planes harness the wind's forces to provide the wonderful experience of flying, but planes are utilized to create wartime destruction.
THE WIND BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHER, after Jiro looses his hat during his train journey but Naoko catches it for him and this is their introduction to each other.
BUT THE WIND KEEPS PEOPLE APART due to Jiro's obsession/gift with aviation which obligates him to design planes for the country keeping him at work and not at home to be with sick Naoko, whom he loves.
THE WIND BRINGS A DESTRUCTIVE FORCE as it fuels the destructive post earthquake fire which chews into the houses of the people but as a result, humans demonstrate their humanity, after Jiro helps a woman with a broken leg to safety in the woods and this delights Naoko who sees Jiro's empathy.
THE WIND REUNITES PEOPLE, after Jiro saves Naokos umbrella after it is blown away by the wind during her painting session. This causes them to meet again after years apart.
THE WIND HELPS PEOPLE IDENTIFY WITH EACH OTHER, after Naoko and Jiro play with the paper darts which Jiro makes, thus enabling Naoko to fully appreciate the wonders of aviation and perhaps sympathize with Jiros love of aviation engineering. The wind also introduces people from different cultural backgrounds during a historical period of nationalist tensions and isolation at the start of the 20th century.
Ultimately, the wind theme demonstrates that life and the human experience is filled with love and loss, creation and destruction, and that often these forces and emotions are the two sides of the same coin - in this case WIND....Wind which is an uncontrollable feature of the environment humans find themselves in.
This is a very thoughtful and poignant message, a very realistic message about life which is often not conveyed at all, let alone so artistically, through most films.
The historical narrative which involved a young man's (Jiro) subjective impressions of Japan's early 20th century history is also noteworthy, in which there were questions about Japan's social and industrial evolution/progression (or lack thereof), where Jiro and his close colleague voiced lament about the state of Japanese technological development and general backwardness.....this was obviously something that, apart from Jiro's enthusiasm RE aviation, drove his desire to design a plane that "competed" with the vehicles that other strong global powers had created.
However, while Jiro's creativity was beautiful and awesome, there is also the dichotomy that what he was creating was to be used for destructive purposes. Again illuminating the juxtaposition/paradox of the human experience and life in general.
This is a beautiful, thoughtful and creative story....full of meaning without being too idealistic, which brings history, love, loss, creation, destruction (among other things) together to illuminate the fact that their is "no normal life, just life" in a world where humans are simply trying to feel their way through life laced with perpetual change.
