With the BFI announcing just yesterday that it will be running a two-month 'Complete Studio Ghibli Feature Season' in April and May (leading up to the release of Hayao Miyazaki's final directorial effort 'The Wind Rises' on 9th May), I thought there not to be a more apt to start my '5 Years, 50 Films' than on a lesser known but not lesser loved (at least by me) member of the Ghibli family tree.
Heisei Tanuki Gassen Pon Poko, literally translates to 'Heisei-era Racoon Dog War'. The Heisei era part is key here. For over 60 years, Emperor Hirohito had reigned over Japan through Hiroshima and Nagasaki, via Manchuria. Hirohito's legacy was one left shrouded in controversy, with trials on war crimes for one. Up to that point in history, the Emperor was seen as 'arahitogami', a deity taking form as a human being (important to a certain extent in Pom Poko).
Hirohito passed away in 1989, passing the throne to his son Akihito and so began the Heisei (all-consuming peace) era. Due to one of the strongest economic periods in modern Japanese history, Japan, through Tokyo, went through a two year period of great wealth and in turn a burst in the infrastructure of its work force by redefining transport links to reflect the weight and expectations of a modern urban city. On top of this, Tokyo was tempting a new form of 'intelligentsia' to help build a widescreen economy that would take on the world as well as serve it.
From the post war period, the population of Tokyo has shifted from around 3 million to above 13 million today. However the City of Tokyo itself had over-bulged. Creaking at the seams, the first government of the Heisei era led by Toshiki Kaifu, instigated a housing boom which would mean that domiciles in high rises sprung up further and further from the city's nucleus. This is where Pom Poko comes in.
Pom Poko is the story of a nursery of racoons (a posse! a gang! a riot!) losing their way when their habitats, and with it food and livelihoods, are taken away from them due this population and economic shift. Directed by Isao Takahata, who had by then already helmed 'Grave of the Fireflies', 'Poko' feels like an amalgamation of the 'comedy with a twisted heart' that Takahata would continue with 'My Neighbour the Yamadas'. Here it's a combination of an observational style dipped in satirical flourishes all bedded in a physical comedy arena that is breaks darkly as a juxtaposition to the annhilation and breakdown of the racoons' lives.
Studio Ghibli sometimes is pushed on the back foot, with critics arguing that their representations of post-war Japan are fantastically anti-imperialistic. So much so that an overidealized, socialistic becomes a flagrant oppostion on western ideals. I think in the case of 'Pom Poko' however that viewpoint is irrelevant and misdirected.
This is a film about identity and the fight to prevent the loss of it. On top of this, the picture represents the racoon as dual personas, but always as a creature in front of humans. The viewer is able to empathise with multi-faceted characters whereas the humans see only greedy, ravenous creatures looking to cause chaos and steal food. As seasons pass, the young racoons become adolescent activists, giving way to blossoming fathers and mothers for whom priorities have changed. Without giving much away to those who haven't seen it, there is a truly memorable sequence that recalls the golden age of surrealism, works of Yamamoto and especially Matta seem to be referenced.
Inevitably I don't think it's too much to say that there is a hope in these characters that remains even when the credits roll (which makes sense for a PG certificate) and as an entry soiree into the works of Ghibli it's not suggested. For that i'd still suggest 'My Neighbour Totoro' or 'Kiki's Delivery Service', perhaps 'Spirited Away' but it remains one of my favourites from a sensational collection and I urge all to watch it when the time is right.
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