Princess Mononoke

In his most famous film, Miyazaki spreads an immersive canvas before the audience, blending the realities of the historical Muromachi period (1336–1573) with Japanese mythology and his own imagery. In mythical times, when nature was still unbridled and the earth was inhabited by animal gods, the young prince Ashitaka embarks on a distant pilgrimage to find a cure for the deadly curse of wrath that came upon him while defending his village. As a dispassionate observer, his eyes unblinking with anger, he arrives in a fortified steel town led by the implacable Lady Eboshi, who faces fierce attacks from the animals of the adjacent forest, alongside whom fights the wild girl San, raised by wolves. This visually disarming epic, presenting a non-trivial view of the conflict between humans and nature and fascinating, among other things, with its unprecedentedly complex characters, stands today as one of the most essential films in world cinema. It became the highest-grossing Japanese film of its time and brought Miyazaki a well-deserved international breakthrough and worldwide fame.