Do you know how hard it is to live up to the reputation of a legend like Hayao Miyazaki? Especially for a Pakistani production such as “The Glassworker” that just doesn’t try to copy his unique way. It captures the strong antiwar theme, which underlies most of his works including the ones by Isao Takahata, director of “Grave Of The Fireflies” from Studio Ghibli. Generally speaking, many Ghibli films have a feel of déjà vu.
Usman Riaz’s first film “The Glassworker” is Pakistan’s inaugural fully hand-drawn feature film produced at Mano Animation Studios with assistance from Geoffrey Wexler, producer at Ghibli. You can almost feel him in every frame: from his preference for early 20th-century town called Waterfront that looks like big European cities and has ethnicity mix of local citizens speaking Urdu and those dressed in western and Asian Islamic attire. It was made in the Dutch Renaissance style; there were people wearing clothes both worn by South Asian muhajirs and Westerners. Finally, the town is full of coziness and industrialization which brought about mass production of weapons to be used against each other.
Award talks should include ‘Matlock’ and ‘High Potential’ in the context of broadcast TV’s muscle flexing this fall.
Most of the story takes place in flashbacks of Vincent Oliver, though we start by seeing a young adult Vincent Oliver (played by Taimoor “Mooroo” Salahuddin) reading letters sent to him from his first love and former classmate Alliz (played by Mariam Riaz Paracha). Tomas, Vincent’s father is strict yet just. Nowadays, Vincent runs his dad’s glass-blowing workshop and shop. There, the young apprentice (voiced by Mahum Moazzam during the recall scene) catches sight of his fellow student and lover Alliz when he was still young (still voiced by Paracha), who moved to their town when her father Colonel Amano (Ameed Riaz), an army general came as a peacemaker to wage war on an unidentified adversary.
Political details in “The Glassblower” are left rather open-ended, partly because Watertown is a fantasy blend of many cultures (illusions of grandeur) and partly because the children see this fight as it happens. This might be what makes this movie most Ghibli-like, but also simplicity helps to make the point of the film. As “The Glassworker” grows more complex in its depiction of innocent childhood love; it remains almost deliberately ignorant about geopolitics or even allegory choosing instead to adopt an intimate perspective on the impact of war on the soul.
During this conflict, glass plays a major role in building weapons (or maybe that’s just how Vincent remembers it because he knows no other way), leading Amano Colonel to approach Tomas for assistance despite being somewhat ostracized for his pacifism during wartime. Riaz ably captures Tomas’ predicament and transforms it into Vincent’s unforgettable larger than life moment as well as one among several ugly incidents that will weigh heavily on young boy’s heart.
The film also has a supernatural part involving Djinn magical creatures from Islamic mythology who, even though they do not appear, are recognizable owing to Carmine Di Florio’s sparkling score and transmit and bend rays towards Vincent, quite likely prompting him too. So this is not exactly the most well-thought out plot line, but it does serve as a quick method of molding the slightly older Vincent in line with what is required by the story, an ugly journey that still comes with its own fascinating results.
However, despite his eventual pacifism attitude towards life, Vincent becomes bitter over time simply because he lives in a world at war. This transition is subtly depicted by the animation team through tiny things like deepening wrinkles under his eyes. The level of detail involved in bringing these characters to life makes it possible for more introspective grieving about all that is lost due to war which can include anything from childlike innocence to chances for self-improvement (Vincent’s bully from childhood actually has an unexpectedly important role).
“The Glassworker” is often slow, however, in so doing, it counts down to moments of raw emotion when the “heroes” and “villains” reveal themselves to be more complex than they seemed. It doesn’t break new ground for animation overall (although it’s a milestone for Pakistan), but rather offers a fitting tribute to a legendary filmmaker who summed up in essence what his movies were all about.
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