PRINCESS MONONOKE (1997)

With STAR WARS VISIONS release date just days away, our guest writer John Osif picks an interesting film to connect with S2E5 of THE MANDALORIAN...

Photo by John Osif

The Mandalorian – Season Two – Episode Five – “The Jedi”

In Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, Alfred gives a captivating speech about a time when he was hired to help capture a bandit who moved like a ghost in and out of the woods. Eluding capture yet growing in myth. The bandit appeared to be neither good nor evil as sinister motives went undiscovered. He simply gave away anything he stole to local villagers. When attempting to thwart a spirit haunting the forest, Alfred’s resolute solution was to simply burn down the forest.

In “The Jedi”, a sinister and cruel Magistrate rules the land of the forest planet Corvus. Frustrated by her inability to destroy a rogue Jedi who stands in the way of her total rule of this world, it is implied that the Magistrate has burned down the surrounding forests to flush the Jedi out. And it just so happens that this is the very Jedi that Mando and the Child seek. Mando is hired by the Magistrate to kill the Jedi. Only he has his own grand design to simply use the knowledge to find the Jedi to train the Child. When he sees the cruelty in the city, Mando obviously helps the Jedi free the citizens.

There are so many great things in this episode. The well-executed live action debut of Ahsoka Tano. The revelation of the PERFECT name of the Child, Grogu. The word for word description of The Force as Ahsoka tells Mando “It’s an energy field created by all living things…” (sound familiar?) The inclusion of sci-fi screen icon Michael Biehn. The amazing, Japanese Samurai films-influenced final battle between Ahsoka and the Magistrate:

This is a beautifully shot, hauntingly lit episode obviously influenced by filmmaker Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. Yet there is another Japanese epic that immediately came to this blogger’s mind as this episode unfolded, 1997’s Princess Mononoke.

In Princess Mononoke, and also in order to over-simplify the plot to point out how it reminded me of this episode, the basic plot unfolds like this; An “evil” ruler, Eboshi, guards the captive city Iron Town by clearcutting all of the surrounding forests. There is a “wild” nature warrior who comes to take down the evil Magistrate. And the quiet, battle-weary prince, Ashitaka, who lives by a code and works with the nature warrior to restore balance to the forests. On the surface, you can see the parallels. 

 

“The Jedi” uses shadows and atmosphere better than any Mandalorian episode so far. The inclusion of the name Grand Admiral Thrawn beautifully sets up a Must-See series centering on Ahsoka. One of the most thought-provoking things to happen to me in this series (to date) occurred to me while watching it for the first time. Ahsoka refuses to train Grogu. Could it be that she sensed the Dark Side in him? She has seen even the most powerful Jedi give in to the Dark and it broke her. Maybe she knows that a more powerful, connected Jedi to this kind of situation is needed in order to keep Grogu from the Dark Side? Maybe we will find out who that is…

I was also intrigued by this episode and Princess Mononoke’s theme of ambiguity between the Laws of Nature and the Science of Technology. It is more give and take then right and wrong. Almost needing one another to survive. It is an environment where heroes are not traditionally perfect nor the villains stereotypically evil. This duality has always reminded me of my interpretation of the conflict of the Jedi. The Jedi, as a group, are guardians of an ancient nature-centric harmonious spiritual balance between the dark and the light. Yet they fly around the galaxy using the latest in human technology. They find little issue with technology which always seemed like a wicked contradiction to me. Perhaps the duality theme inherent in all Jedi is what ties it best to Princess Mononoke.

This entry was written by John Osif. 

John Osif is a Father/Filmmaker/Writer who is currently working on writing new songs for his reunited high school band’s second reunion album. Conterpoint’s first reunion album was released in 2018 and is available online anywhere you buy music.