#1 風の谷のナウシカ (Keze No Tani No Naushika) 1984

風の谷のナウシカ (Keze No Tani No Naushika) - Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Released: 1984
IMDB Rating (at the moment): 8,1/10 #249

Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki Written by: Hayao Miyazaki Starring: Sumi Shimamoto, Mahito Tsujimara, Hisako Kyoda

The story is about Princess Nausicaä who desperately is trying to keep the nations in war from destroying themselves and their dying planet. The forests are toxic, the whole planet is dying and there are insects threatening to destroy the human villages, but only as long as the humans keep fighting each other. You see where the plot is going? I see a clear peace wish here. But they are subtle and very impressive.

I have to be honest, I am in love with Miyazakis storytelling and his artwork. The image of the insects are both appealing and terrifying at the same time. The main character Nausicaä is a strong woman, and without saying too much she really saves the day a lot of the times, the story is way ahead when it comes to strong female leads. I was fixated to the screen during the whole movie, it is really, really nicely done, both visually and storywise. The different characters can sometimes be a bit predictable, but nevertheless this is a true masterpiece and deserves to be in the top 250.

Be careful though which version you watch, because when the film was distributed in America (the distributors being Disney) the film was cut by 25 minutes. Apparently Miyazaki was not pleased with this and sent a samurai sword to the executives at Disney saying "No cuts".