Princess Mononoke (1997) - Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

In Muromachi Japan, an Emishi village is attacked by a demon. 
The Last Emishi prince, Ashitaka, kills it before it reaches the village, but its corruption curses his arm in the battle.
The curse gives him superhuman strength in the injured arm, but it´s fatal.
The villagers discover that the demon was once a boar god (Nago), corrupted by an iron ball lodged in his body.
The village´s wise woman tells Ashitaka that he may find a cure in the western lands where Nago came from.
Heading west, Ashitaka meets Jiko-Bō, a wandering monk who tells him that he may find help from the
Great Forest Spirit, a Kirin-like creature by day and a giant Nightwalker by night.
Nearby, men herd oxen to Irontown, led by Lady Eboshi and they are attacked by a wolf pack led by the wolf goddess Moro.
Riding one of the wolves is San, a human girl. Later, Ashitaka see injured Irontown men, and sees San and her wolf pack: he greets them, but they leave.
He carries the injured men through the forest, where he encounters many Kodamas, and glimpses the Forest Spirit.
In Irontown, Ashitaka learns that Eboshi has built the town by clear-cutting forests to claim ironsand and produce iron, leading to conflict with the forest gods.
The town is a refuge for social outcasts, including former brothel workers and lepers, whom Eboshi employs to manufacture firearms to defend against the gods (Nago was turned into a demon by one of Eboshi´s guns).
Eboshi also explains that San, self-dubbed Princess Mononoke, was raised by the wolves as one of their own and resents humankind.

I think this is Miyazaki´s most personal work, clearly a serious design.
It is set in an imaginary time which blends the time of the anicent gods (Shinto style, gods of place and nature) with the settlement of humans and the coming of metalworking and war.
The world is not in balance, and a distant conflict between industry and nature has wounded one of the gods of the forest, which is then killed by a sentry boy as it rampages into farmland he guards.
The evil is controlling, it transfers to him, beginning a slow takeover, and he must journey to the origin of the conflict to find a way to cure himself and incidentally, as he will learn, try to restore balance.
But this is not a simplistic tale, he finds there are other characters in play, and there is good and evil in everyone, and no easy balance.
The Princess (Hime) of the story is a mysterious human who has been raised by wolves (which are themselves powerful forest gods, a little reminiscent of the amerindian coyote myth), who becomes both his ally and his enemy.
The story has many Japanese mythic elements but even then, it is a work of unique imagination, and is not intended to be simple or to have a clean resolution.
The animation is spectacular, and unusual, with new elements even for Miyazaki and marks a new departure for style which you can see continued in his next film, (Spirited Away) - more nature, more wild and more jamming on elements from japanese myth and folklore.
And, continuing the trend to be more personal, concerned with ethics and character and less sci-fi.
There are at least half a dozen well developed characters threaded through the story and their animation is wonderful in displaying subtle character.
The Movie has some problems but they are very minor!
The original japanese soundtrack has some amazing singing and draws upon some of the best talent availaible for voices - in Japan, this was a masterpiece carefully crafted.
This is truly an adult work: children might like some of the visuals, but i doubt that many kids below teen age will have any idea what it´s all about!

Rating 9/10