“The Wind Rises” takes real world struggle and tragedy, a theme that seems contrary to Hayao Miyazaki’s previous works, and blends them with Studio Ghibli’s trademark beauty and whimsy. The movie tells the story of Jiro Horikoshi, the designer behind Japan’s infamous Mitsubishi AM6 Zero fighter. It explores his love of airplanes, his moral grappling with how he knows they will be used, and his troubled life at home. The nature of depicting Japan in the years before World War II didn’t come without it’s share of troubles, however.

It’s hard to talk about “The Wind Rises” without acknowledging the controversy surrounding it. The movie’s focus on Jiro has drawn criticism due to its occasionally whimsical nature, and what some people claim is a white-washed version of history. It isn’t a story about history though, it’s a story about a man. Even with its focus clearly on Jiro, “The Wind Rises” manages to subtly display both Japan’s prewar desperation and what the people important to the country’s war efforts lost in the process.

Miyazaki deftly handles the heavy themes pervading Jiro’s fictionalized life in the movie, weaving them into dream sequences and giving intangible concepts visual forms. The impactful, colorful and emotional scenes allow the movie to stretch its legs into territory fans of the legendary director and studio will be familiar with.

The dreams are more than just a clever way around the inherently droll nature of biographical content though, they’re windows into Jiro’s mind. When he is inspired, Jiro meets with his icon Giovanni Battista Caproni in a dream world where Caproni’s wildest designs come to life. When he is worried and anxious about the test of his aircraft, he suffers through its failure as the test pilot. When he is conflicted about his planes’ uses, war manifests itself in his mind and Caproni subsequently reassures him.

The fantastical nature of Jiro’s dreams perfectly contrast the tragedy of his tale. Despite the colorful nature of his movies, Miyazaki is no stranger to similar subject matter. “Princess Mononoke,” largely regarded as his first truly successful film, tells the story of a surprisingly brutal struggle between humans and the mythological creatures of the forest they exploit. The director has shown he is unafraid to pull punches in the past, and he avoids doing so in Jiro’s tale as well. The story embraces it’s tragic nature, displaying it honestly.

“The Wind Rises” is a different brand of tragedy than Miyazaki has tackled before though. There is no savior clawing their way out of the muck, only the raw reality of what happens. The gorgeous artwork and often hopeful Jiro move along with an undercurrent of unpleasantness only made more powerful by the juxtaposition of dreams and reality. When the tale finally reaches its conclusion, the result is a brilliantly conflicting amalgamation of emotions. The slowly building tension, and tiny constant reminders of what’s lurking beneath the sea of color, create one of the most powerful final scenes Miyazaki has ever rendered.

Successful points aside, there’s still fault to be found in “The Wind Rises.” Like many of Miyazaki’s movies it requires the audience’s utmost attention, something both good and bad. The scenes of environmental storytelling are beautiful, and rewarding for those who can follow along, but inherently abstract. The unmarked passage of time also requires an attentiveness the average movie-goer probably won’t be accustomed to.  Running roughly two hours and rarely retreading narrative ground, it’s understandable how losing the plot’s thread in “The Wind Rises” could have a profoundly negative effect. The same can be said for all of Miyazaki’s movies, but most don’t jump forward as often or cover as much ground.

The subtitled version I saw also included several areas where the subtitles appeared to be missing, most notably from the first dream sequence in which Jiro meets Caproni. While it’s possible Caproni was meant to be speaking his native Italian during the scene, he was also communicating with Jiro directly and if he was speaking Italian I had trouble picking it out despite two semesters of studying the language. Thankfully none of the subtitles I thought were missing came at moments where the missing information couldn’t be derived from elsewhere in the scene or lasted long.

There’s debate over whether or not Miyazaki has claimed “The Wind Rises” will be his last movie. Some say he recanted on a statement he made to that effect late last year, others suggest he has simply retired from feature-length films. If this is his last movie, it’s a great place to stop. “The Wind Rises” isn’t Miyazaki’s best film, but the choice to tell a real person’s story for the first time means Miyazaki may leave animation on the back of his most unique work.