BIG IN JAPAN WEEK - "THE BORROWERS"

THE BORROWERS

A few weeks back I wrote about Spirited Away by master director Hayao Miyazaki. I also told you briefly about anime and why I like it so much. I have on hand another such dose of escapism. Now, I realize you guys may nor may not be in to anime per se, but this is a story you might be emotionally attached and drawn to anyway...It's The Borrowers! The adaptation is released by Studio Ghibli, founded as I told you I believe, by Miyazaki himself and a great supporter of good quality anime... Now the director for this film is not Miyazaki himself but another Japanese director called . I should know more about him - possibly- but I am very much a weekender when it comes to anime so I just have to apologize profusely, chalk him /her down to the long list of things I don't know and get on with my review...
So, a lot of you will basically know the story of the Borrowers but I'll just go through it again if only to put across the Japanese version of events... Now, I honestly cannot remember the story of the book because I read it sooo long ago but the snatches I remember of it is pretty accurate. So, a young boy is brought to his grandparent's house n the country for a week. This is not a casual visit though, he has a weak heart and is waiting to be operated on. He cannot run and play like others his own age and must rest and spend a quiet week in the countryside for his own good... The house seems like any house only there is one thing. For generations, the story goes, there have been tiny people - exactly the same as us only much, MUCH smaller - have also lived in this house. They survive by "borrowing" things we "human beans" don't miss. As you can guess, this is no simple legend but hard fact. A family of Borrowers, mother and father Homily and Pod with their daughter Arietty live under the floorboards of the house... They have for a long time and the main rule is they must never, EVER be seen. When coincidence brings the young invalid and Arietty together and a friendship blossoms between them however, a lot is suddenly put at risk... The maid Haru is on the war path, and if she can just prove the existence of the "little people", she's going to call the exterminators!!
Now, I am no expert on anime (I saw this film with a friend who is though) and we both think this is a pretty good example of the genre. I mean, there is none of the "magic" anime sometimes contains with the more "eastern" stories. There is however a lot of typical eastern themes present along with family, impossible love and a consciousness for the environment. My friend the expert reliably informs me that Studio Ghibli has made environmental awareness something of a mission, by the way. There is a lot of this theme in Miyazaki's films as well come to think of it. I am all for it but the way it was put in this film kinda stuck out for me... I mean, awareness etc. is all well and good, but I don't like things stuck into things just for the sake of their being there if you see what I mean.... But this was a very small part of the film to give things their due and the film in general was a sweet, endearing little number guaranteeing you an escape from your everyday cares and worries to another world of color and excitement... And that, I believe, is something we all need from time to time...