There are certain films that feel less like stories and more like memories of a dream you never had. Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away (or Viagem de Chihiro , as it is beautifully known in Portuguese—literally "Chihiro's Journey") is the gold standard of this phenomenon. Released by Studio Ghibli in 2001, it remains the only hand-drawn, non-English language film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Miyazaki shows that greed is often just loneliness wearing a mask. The only person who rejects No-Face’s gold is Chihiro. She offers him the "medicine" (the emetic dumpling) and takes him on a quiet train ride. She doesn't defeat him with violence; she detoxifies him with distance. Speaking of that train ride: it is arguably the greatest sequence in animation history. viagem de chihiro
Haku, the river spirit who helps her, has forgotten his own name. He is trapped in servitude because he cannot remember who he used to be. The film argues that in order to survive in a harsh world (the Bathhouse), we often trim away the parts of ourselves that don't fit. We become "Sen"—the worker, the student, the employee—and forget we were ever "Chihiro"—the curious, scared, but stubborn child. There are certain films that feel less like
Beyond the Bathhouse: Why Viagem de Chihiro is the Perfect Gateway into Grief and Growth Miyazaki shows that greed is often just loneliness