One of the most brilliant and beautiful movies I've ever seen - Spoilers

Rating: 10/10 (13 October 2003)

I'm going to go into some detail about this movie, so please don't read this if you haven't seen it. And if you haven't seen it, go out and rent it right now, and be sure to watch it in Japanese. The Japanese language track has much better voice acting than the dub.
Anyway, I've been reluctant to write a review, simply because I fear that I can't do this film justice. Rather than write a traditional review, I'd like to focus on the main characters.
With this movie, Hayao Miyazaki refuses to give us what we're used to with traditional animated fare. Where we want to see an evil villain, with thousands of mindless followers, he gives us Lady Eboshi, head of the Ironworks. She is very greedy, and her destruction of the environment, as well as her slaying of the Forest Spirit are terrible, but she also cares deeply for her people. Her people truly love her, and it's easy to see why.
Where we are used to seeing either a damsel in distress for our hero to sweep off her feet, or a female lead who is completely noble and kind, he gives us San, the Princess Mononoke. She was abandoned by her family, raised by Moro, a great wolf, and has a deep hatred for humans. Her cause is a just one, she has to defend her home, but her actions are driven by hatred, the same hatred that turns the boars Nago and Okkoto into demons. Never in this film is her hatred justified, and I found it to be frequently contrasted with the forgiveness of the main character, which brings us to Ashitaka.
Ashitaka is the aforementioned main character. He is opposed to killing, but is willing to do so if his life or the lives of the innocent are threatened. In defending his village from the rampaging Nago, he receives a deadly curse. He is, through no fault of his own, thrown into this battle between man and nature, the Ironworks and the forest, Lady Eboshi and San. Unlike Lady Eboshi, he sees the wrong in the wholesale destruction of the forest. Unlike San, he isn't blinded by hate and is willing to forgive.
It is Miyazaki's handling of these characters, and the constant contrast that goes on between them that helps make this film so different from what people are used to with American animation. But my favorite aspect of the film is how Miyazaki handles the character of San. Nature could easily have been represented in this film by some forest creature, but by using San, who hates humans, but is a human herself, he creates a whole new angle. She is a human, but she no doubt has ever had any emotional contact with a human, other than feelings of hatred. When Ashitaka tells her she's beautiful, her reaction is one of fright, like a scared child. Mind you, when he tells her this, he is badly wounded and she is holding a blade to his throat. As she develops feelings of love for Ashitaka, she starts to deny them. It is also made clear, at least to me that she is not a heroine, not if heroines are just. Granted, as I said before, her cause is just. But she has no problems with killing humans in cold blood. Down to the very end she refuses to forgive humans. Again, one might say that her feelings are justified, but they do contrast with Ashitaka, who is very forgiving. When Lady Eboshi is wounded by Moro, Ashitaka brings her to safety. San wants to kill her as she lies helpless and when Ashitaka stops her, she goes through a breakdown and stabs Ashitaka (not badly) with a dagger. That dagger is very symbolic. It was a dagger that he gave to her as a gift of his love for her, a dagger that was given to him by his sister as he left his village, never to see his people again. She wants to use to kill, and then stabs him with it.
Really, the whole contrast can be summed up by when Ashitaka says to Lady Eboshi that he has come "to see with eyes unclouded." San's eyes indeed are clouded.
Anyway forgive me for focusing so much on this aspect of the film. I don't mean to make San look like a villain. She isn't. However, people constantly talk about the message this film wishes to send, a warning about mindless destruction of the environment, which is a message the film sends. But I rarely see anyone mention the faults of San and the destruction caused by hate.
That's the brilliance of the film. Ashitaka is an innocent hero, thrust into this world where neither side is completely wrong and both sides are driven by an evil, the humans by pure greed, the residents of the forest by pure hate. Ashitaka's pleas for peace fall on deaf ears, with both sides accusing him of supporting the other. It all culminates in a climax in which both sides end up suffering, and ends without offering a straight "and they both lived happily ever after" answer. But what it does offer at the end is a glimmer of hope. And that, I think, is the ultimate message of the film. Despite the greed and hatred, and the destruction caused by them, you can never give up, and good will overpower evil. This is a truly incredible film.