It’s rare that great art (or a great artist) has the opportunity to exist in absolute creative and financial freedom immune from commercial considerations or the pressures of popular taste. Achieving this freedom within the film industry is virtually unheard of.

But somehow legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki has accomplished the impossible with a series of breathtaking works of art (Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro among them) that are not only routinely lauded as masterpieces but which also inevitably make their way to the top of the international box-office charts. In celebration of the North American theatrical release of Miyazaki’s latest, Ponyo, I thought it would be apropos to champion his first independent feature, the life-affirming, earth-worthy, still ahead of its time environmental warning call Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

Set in a future devoid of life, Nausicaä speaks to a world that has lost hope, swept up in a spiral of destruction against nature and life itself. Nausicaä, the heroine, is a young woman who communicates with the forces of nature, helping to heal and harmonize with these forces while simultaneously fighting off the humans who are committed to the destruction of her community and the energy of life. The film follows Nausicaä as she unwittingly becomes the catalyst in a shift of human consciousness towards living in balance with nature, thereby allowing a global return to Eden.

It’s a heady sounding piece, especially when you consider that it’s made for a younger audience, but as with all Miyazaki, the message is clear, concise, and sincere in a way that speaks directly to the heart. It speaks for (as opposed to against) the audience, and I’d be hard-pressed to find any human being who won’t be mesmerized by the level of creativity on display here.

While the animation is not as perfectly realized as in Miyazaki’s subsequent films, his warmth and intelligence are obvious, with none of the product placement or consumerist spirit that marks so much family entertainment in North America. For that reason alone, Nausicaä should be given an award. (Nausicaä also parts company with most Hollywood family films in that the female protagonist is a self-sufficient, problem-solving character who chooses to resolve conflict not through action but through understanding.)

Miyazaki is one of international cinema’s great inspirational figures: his message of love, tolerance, responsibility, and understanding is cherished worldwide, rewarded with a success that has guaranteed artistic and creative freedom for the remainder of his lifetime. The only region that has yet to honor his genius is North America. Perhaps with the release of Ponyo, this too will change.