Spirited Away
Overview
Spirited Away is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, produced by Studio Ghibli. The film is widely considered one of the greatest animated films ever made, and it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The film follows Chihiro Ogino (Rumi Hiiragi), a sullen, whiny 10-year-old girl who is moving to a new town with her parents. They take a wrong turn and discover a mysterious tunnel that leads to what seems to be an abandoned amusement park. Her parents find a restaurant full of food and begin eating. They turn into pigs. Chihiro discovers that the park is actually a spirit world, a bathhouse where gods and spirits come to relax. She is found by a mysterious boy named Haku (Miyu Irino), who tells her that she must work at the bathhouse to survive. The bathhouse is run by the witch Yubaba (Mari Natsuki), who steals people's names and makes them her slaves. Yubaba renames Chihiro "Sen." Chihiro is terrified, but she slowly learns to be brave, resourceful, and kind. She helps a "stink spirit" who is actually a river god polluted by human trash, and she befriends a faceless spirit (No-Face) who becomes obsessed with her. The film is a coming-of-age story about a girl who learns to find her own strength and identity. It is also a meditation on Japanese culture, capitalism, and environmentalism. The bathhouse is a metaphor for Japanese society, with its rigid hierarchy, its exploitation of workers, and its obsession with money. The film ends with Chihiro passing a test: she correctly identifies which pigs are her parents. They are not there, and she and her parents are allowed to leave the spirit world. She and Haku, who is actually the spirit of a river, part ways. The film ends with Chihiro walking through the tunnel, a different person than she was when she entered. Spirited Away was a massive critical and commercial success, earning over $395 million worldwide. It is the highest-grossing film in Japanese history. The film is a masterpiece of animation, a beautiful, imaginative, and emotionally resonant story about growing up.
