The Boy and the Heron: An Anti-War and Anti-Nationalist Masterpiece

To me, not much cinema is truly anti-war. When I think of some of cinema's most iconic war tales, they generally tell stories of patriotism, heroes, villains and thrilling action.

What I believe The Boy and the Heron does well to subvert these issues is present issues of war through subtext and metaphor to allow the audience to draw their own conclusions as to why these issues persist in the world of the film and our own. All of this can make parts of the film difficult to decipher, so I will attempt here to break it down.

One of the key points to understanding Mahito and his journey is understanding the novel he reads, ‘How Do You Live?’. This is a real novel written by Genzaburō Yoshino in 1937. It is a book which was written with the intention of giving adolescents an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of life amidst the rising nationalism and militarism in Japan at the time, just before the Second World War was set to break out.

In the film, Mahito is partway through reading the book before he leaves to go save Natsuko in a similar fashion to a story we hear about his granduncle. Natsuko states that “He suddenly disappeared, leaving only an open book that he hadn’t finished reading”, which sets up Mahito and his granduncle as foils to each other. Throughout the film, though, we discover the type of man Mahito’s granduncle was; he read books of science and left with the ideal of creating a new and better world, as he believed he had the knowledge and the power to do so.

Mahito’s granduncle eventually becomes somebody who represents pride and a need for control, he creates a world of his ideal, but needs power in order to fulfil that, so he creates conflict in order to benefit himself. Suffering breeds control as it does in the real world. War typically breaks out for the financial benefit of those who crave power and propaganda, which is subtly seen in the background of shots through the film, is used to make the people (the parakeets) believe the soldiers, whom they are fighting, are the enemy (the pelicans).

The pelicans have misgivings about what they are doing to the Warawara, and as explained by the pelican played by Willem Dafoe, in my favourite scene in the film, they have attempted to leave and find another way to live and find food, but they are always brought back here, forced to fight as the soldiers they represent. Mahito actually brings out a shovel in this scene when he hears the sounds of the pelican, presumably to kill, or at least attack it. But, instead, the conversation and sympathy Mahito shows the pelican, which is burnt as the American soldiers would’ve been who were involved in the death of his mother giving it burial, is an opportunity for him to grieve and give closure to the death of his mother. This is the first step to Mahito removing the malice that exists within him, a core message the film wants us to hold onto.

Speaking of that malice, where does it stem from, and how does it project itself? Well, Mahito is a young boy who has a huge amount to deal with at such a young age. His mother dies due to war, he is forced to move and attend a new school, he is moving in with his new mother, who is his aunt, and then he finds out she is pregnant with his father’s child.

Mahito is also an outsider when he moves to his new school. He is the only child without a shaved head, something done by Japanese students during World War Two to align themselves with Japanese soldiers, furthering the nationalism that was rife within the nation. He also arrives in a fancy car, positioning him and his father as people profiteering from the war, which Mahito’s father is doing. This leads to the fight between him and the other boys, representing how war can turn countrymen on countrymen.

This all culminates in Mahito self-harming with a rock. Later in the film, he says how the scar from hitting himself with the rock came from malice, that malice is towards himself. All of this internal suffering that this young boy has had to deal with led to a deep malice and unhappiness with himself and the world around him. I believe this is why him reading ‘How Do You Live?' and the subsequent journey is so important to his character. This building malice could’ve taken Mahito down a similar path to his granduncle, where he became disillusioned with the world and believed he could have the power to make a better world. But, instead, he takes the opportunity to learn and understand others like the pelicans and the heron and understand that the world is full of flaws, as are your friends and loved ones, but that does not mean they do not deserve love and compassion.