A Japanese aeronautics engineer realizes his dream, even though it’s wartime: by building the most beautiful flying machines.

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Jiro is a dreamer. Even though his shortsightedness keeps him from becoming a pilot, his drive makes him one of the most gifted Japanese engineers of his generation. Recruited by an important aeronautics company before WWII, he uses his energy to design bombers that will be destined never to return. As he does so, Jiro holds on each day to the words of Paul Valéry: "The wind is rising!... We must try to live". This same hunger for life melts the heart of a young girl he met during an earthquake, who suffers from an illness ravaging the country: tuberculosis...

The latest film by Hayao Miyazaki takes on the heavy and profound subject of war, illness and earthquakes, painting a picture of Japan over 30 years. The poetic aspect of the film is found in its main character, who never stops finding a reason for being alive. An animated film recommended more for adults than for children.