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PONYO ON THE CLIFF

Ponyo sulla spiaggia, the latest animated film by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by the Ghibli studio, was released in Italian cinemas starting from 20 March.
The protagonist of the story is a curious little fish who decides one day to go and explore the terrestrial world, transported by a jellyfish. However, remaining trapped inside a glass jar, due to the sea polluted by waste, she is pushed by the currents on the shore of a cliff. Here Sosuke - a five-year-old boy who lives with his mother Risa on top of the cliff - noticing her, he rescues and takes care of her, giving her a name: Ponyo. A beautiful friendship was born immediately between the two, however interrupted by Fujimoto. Since the latter is the father of the little fish - as well as a sorcerer of the sea depths - he decides to bring her back home; only to discover that Ponyo has a great affection for Sosuke and that he wishes to return to him in the form of a human being.

The sorcerer tries to stop her and in doing so puts her to sleep with a spell. The reason for so much hostility goes back to a distant past: long ago Fujimoto himself was a man, but he chose to give up the land for the sea, because of his contempt for men (considered selfish but above all guilty of water pollution ). Then he took as his wife the Mother of the Sea (Great Mammare) and from their union Ponyo and his numerous sisters (all goldfish with a human face) were born, who were in fact safeguarded from any possible contact with men. In his thoughts Fujimoto cherished a dream: that of bringing the world back to the geological era of the Cambrian, the one in which everything was submerged by the waters, in the exclusive domain of the most ancient fish. Ponyo, on the other hand, just wants to hug Sosuke again and live with him forever. Therefore, with the complicity of her sisters, she drinks a magic potion that transforms her into a five-year-old girl, with a lively temperament and disheveled red hair, who still does not know that she has broken a delicate balance, using magic.

He then reaches Sosuke above large fish-shaped waves and can finally hug him again. Meanwhile, the entire village is overwhelmed by a violent tsunami, therefore submerged by the waters (with the exception of Sosuke's house). But none of the inhabitants are injured, because they are all protected by the magic of Great Mammare. Even if only Sosuke can truly put an end to the huge disaster, overcoming a difficult but extraordinary test of love: accepting Ponyo for what she really is and always loving her.


On a technical level, Ponyo on the cliff was made by Miyazaki and collaborators without the support of computer graphics: each drawing was made by hand using a traditional technique that uses both watercolor and colored pencils. This style is functional to the naive and childish atmospheres that distinguish the personalities of little Ponyo and Sosuke.
On the other hand, following the thread of the plot, one understands how important the issues addressed are, the leitmotif of all Miyazaki's works: friendship, solidarity, respect for others (be it an adult, a child or an elderly person), popular legends, love for nature, pollution etc. But what surprises and fascinates most is the way they are treated. Beauty of the characters (as well as of the drawings) and enchanting poetry are also in this last feature essential figures, which translate into a happy and inimitable harmony between the most ancient Japanese tradition and the western background (the inspiration for the Little Mermaid of HC Andersen, as well as the wonderful underwater world of Finding Nemo). And while Ponyo on the Cliff is an ideal animated film for an audience of children, it nevertheless knows how to fascinate, captivate and amaze people of all ages. This is why it is absolutely unmissable. To report the delicious and catchy final song, aimed at a very young audience, written by Katsuya Kondo together with Hayao Miyazaki himself and set to music by Joe Hisaishi.

by Helga Corpino

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The video of Ponyo on the cliff

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