The Sky Crawlers

Title: The Sky Crawlers
Director: Mamoru Oshii
Screenplay: Chihiro Ito

Recently got the urge to watch something about aerial combat, and remembered this little 2008 Japanese animated movie. I mention it for two reasons: One, the dogfighting scenes are amazing. Watch the video. Second, it strikes me as a shining example of the dangers of applying Western critical thought to foreign movies.

The Sky Crawlers presents a world without war, in which companies are hired to wage air battles for show, with airplanes piloted by zombie-faced teenagers. The hero's squadron is in turn terrorized by an enemy ace known only as the "Teacher," while the hero himself struggles to understand what happened to the pilot he replaced.

A lot of reviews--like this one or this one zero in on an apparent anti-war message. In one scene, one of the main characters even appears to lay down this message like a butcher setting out slabs of meat: War is part of human nature, she says, and if there were ever no war we would have to invent it.

Now there's nothing the Internet likes more than to say "Actually..." so let me break in here to say "Actually..." Westerners are missing the subtext. The fact that the enemy ace is called the Teacher--such as a HIGH SCHOOL teacher--is not random. The fact that all the pilots are HIGH SCHOOL AGED teenagers is not random. The fact that pilots speak Japanese on the ground but English (which is taught in Japanese HIGH SCHOOLS) in the air is not random.

I'm even suspicious of the above-mentioned scene where the character appears to state the theme. She does so in a very droning, glass-eyed way, suggesting someone who has been taught what to say by rote: Rote learning is one of the most criticized aspects of teaching at Japanese HIGH SCHOOLS.

This movie is a very strong strong criticism of the Japanese educational system, claiming that it mass-produces cannon fodder who are mercilessly torn apart by their Teacher, and by a world that applauds rather than cries over their suffering.

Anway, great dogfighting scenes, a bit slow, but an interesting glimpse into the Japanese psyche.