Review: Spirited Away

Chihiro inhabits a place full of spirits in Spirited Away

I'm still trying to digest what I saw in the afternoon showing of Hayao Miyazaki's 2001 masterpiece Spirited Away, an animated fantasy story about a girl who matures very quickly, encounters spirits and learns a lot about human nature.

Ten-year-old Chihiro Ogino and her parents are driving to their new home in the countryside when her father takes a short cut and they stop in front of a tunnel. At first she is scared going in, but her parents check it out, and not wanting to be left alone, Chihiro goes with them.

Her parents start eating food in a deserted place

On the other side they discover a deserted amusement park, emblematic of Japan's boom years. Her father smells something delicious and follows it to a restaurant that is strangely open but no staff inside. Both parents sit down to eat, but Chihiro doesn't think it's right and goes off exploring and discovers she is in a spirit world.

When she goes back to the restaurant, she finds her parents have gorged so much they have morphed into pigs and to save them, Chihiro needs to work for Yubaba, the female owner of a bathhouse for spirits, and it's not an easy task.

Yubaba is a granny with a massive head, but in fact she is a witch, and all her staff are indentured labourers; she has taken their real names so they are stuck in the spirit world.

Yubaba is a pretty scary person to deal with!

As daunting as her task is, at each step of the way, someone helps Chihiro, perhaps because they think she can be of use later on? Or they are keen to see her succeed?

There's a lot of metaphors in the film, as previously mentioned her parents like gluttons eating every dish in sight that refers to human consumerism, while a spirit called No Face (he wears a mask) tempts the bathhouse staff with "gold" that magically appears in his hand, and so they will do whatever he wants as long as he pays them handsomely, a reference to greed.

When No Face tries to get Chihiro to accept his "gold", she refuses, which shows how focused she is on her goal of saving her parents, and that money cannot corrupt her.

The spirit characters are quite an eclectic bunch, from dust sprites that lug lumps of coal to a fiery hot furnace, to a trio of green heads that hang out with Yubaba, and for an elderly lady who also flies like a bird, she sure has a gigantic baby to take care of!

Spirits like No Face help Chihiro along the way

Spirited Away not only has adventure, fantasy and spirits, but also a romantic element when Chihiro meets Haku, a boy who helps her initially, and has been cast under a spell. 

Chihiro's growing maturity is evident, from a girl miffed that she has to start school elsewhere and only cares about her bouquet of flowers, to being determined to do whatever she has to do to save her parents, while learning how the world of work can be physically demanding.

The storyline for Spirited Away has been so well thought out that it's no wonder Miyazaki won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, Best Asian Film at the Hong Kong Film Awards, and Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival among others.

It's a film that resonates with many people who saw it 22 years ago and it continues to inspire them to this day. Even this morning I heard a reference to the film in a radio interview. It was a conversation with Tasli Shaw, an artist and boat captain who makes portraits of marine mammals. When she was asked her all time favourite movie, she immediately answered, Spirited Away.

Romance blooms between Chihiro and Haku

Spirited Away

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

125 minutes