Village Life - My Neighbor Totoro

Watched "My Neighbor Totoro" the other day. 

The story starts with a Father & his 2 daughters who move to a Japanese country side and set up home there. The mother is hospitalized and the family moved to countryside so the environment will help her recovery. Their home is situated at the verge of the forest on one side & huge farms belonging to their neighbors on the other end. The whole movie spans the life of the two children for the span of 2 weeks when their mother is at home and ends with a positive note that their mother is expected back the following weekend. 

The elder daughter - Saskui, seems to be about 9 or 10 years old. She takes care of the house with her father's help. She cooks food, packs lunch & runs to school. She is also a responsible girl who takes care of her little sister but in reality she herself is a child with all the fears and insecurities of a child. A child who has to grow up quickly & be brave for her family. This is beautifully displayed in a section where there is a call from the hospital about her mother not being well & Saskui is expected to inform her father. Saskui seems tough and brave at that time. But later, she tells the grandmother (she over-sees these kids in the father's absence) that they keep saying the same thing every week and then she is dull & low in spirit for the entire day. Saskui also gets frustrated that her kid sister - Mei is not being reasonable and actually yells at her to grow up fast. 

The younger child - Mei is about 3 or 4 years old, who is happy go lucky & does not seem to go to school yet. She keeps running garden & encounters magical creatures who her father says are forest spirits. Their father teaches the children to respect the forest & its spirits and in turn they will take care of them in need. The children believe their father & thus happen to encounter Totoro, the forest spirit one day. Totoro is a large bear like creature who seems to watch over the kids & help them in need. 

The father is depicted as someone who faces lots of challenges in life but keeps a happy face & brave spirit. He is shown as a good man with very healthy approach to life & surroundings. He holds the fort in his wife's absence, guides his children towards the life path in life. But in reality he has a tough life where he travels long distance to teach at the university,  has to balance a home as a single parent due to a sick wife & seen to be someone with lot of work. 

What greatly touched me is the simple and healthy life style of the country side. It is devoid of things that we take for granted like a phone, running water. I felt that it would have been great if the farms were provided with these facilities. Only one home has an old rotary phone. people mostly travel by foot and few of them travel by carts or wagons. Farms are beautiful, food is very healthy & farm grown. There are huge trees surrounding this area with fresh streams & a river with lots of fish. Good simple minded village folks. I loved the entire atmosphere & wanted to stay in such an environment at least for sometime. 

This movie is produced by Japan's famous animation studio names Studio Ghibli. Great work by Director Hayao Miyazaki. There are other works by Miyazaki which I will be reviewing here. Totoro is simple movie but has managed to capture my heart through the story board & great art work by the animators.