Whats it all about, Otomo?
In this movie, Victorian England provides a metaphor for almost any first-world nation, but I immediately assumed it was aimed squarely at the United States. Steam power represents the atom of course. Similar to Otomo’s movie Akira, the spectre of atomic weapons is present. Obviously, this still resonates for the Japanese people, most of all, as they have certainly paid the highest price of it. Although the story seemed to run a little flat for me, with more emphasis on explosions and action than character or story development, I still liked this movie. Otomo apprently spent 10 years deveoping this movie, and I must respect the quality and beautiful style of his visuals. It has a cautious message to give about the applications of technology, and it helped me realize that on a moral and social level, we may not have yet evolved that far from the Victorian era after all.
