Mamoru Oshii is a madman, as nobody who has seen his movie Angel's Egg would deny. But the Japanese have known for a long time that madmen are perhaps the only ones who have truly understood the meaning of life.

A dreamy Shinobu Nagumo

Throughout his last movie set in the Patlabor universe, Oshii has voluntarily removed the mecha from center stage (as Christophe Gans will do in his eagerly awaited live adaptation) in order to focus on the human angle and to give an answer to his own unsettling questions. The most admirable point here may be that the scenario, as complex and realistic as the best thrillers of our time, and the anthological mecha fighting scenes, only serve as a (nice) pretext for Mamoru Oshii and his screenplay writer Kazunori Itoh to deliver some very deep thoughts on the place of Man on this planet. He confronts us with other species with which we share the Earth: pets (most notably dogs), birds (as an evident symbol of quest for freedom, and thus a glaring fantasy for most denizens of the movie) and fish, the only creature which can reign in the vast domains of the sea.

Thus, Oshii sets the most advanced product of human technology ---the Labors--- side to side with God's creations. Who is going to win the battle ? Yukito Tsuge, the supposed villain of the story, is probably not willing to think about it; he'd rather set himself outside of our world and have fun provoking the Army and the Police to see whether they are capable of going to war with one another or able to keep in mind their true purposes... He knows they won't. He can never forget what the Army was capable of making him do when he was fighting for them...

Patlabor 2's message comes not only from its text, but also from its images. Such is the insightfulness and richness of Oshii's thesis that anyone can derive the interpretation they wish. The very slow, precise rhythm of the movie allows us to discover new details each time we watch it. If we play along with Oshii, Patlabor 2 may become a companion for our long path through life, and without saying a word, it may teach us more than most people you could meet in a lifetime...

Indeed, we are given here the best teachers we could wish for... In P2, Noa and Izumi, the two sympathetic young heroes, yield the center stage to their elders Nagumo and Gotoh, more able to show us through their everyday moves the subtle intricacies of their life and country. In spite of their apparent coldness, Gotoh and Nagumo come out as more alive than ever, the one through his touching passion for the sea and the fish, the other through her ambiguous love toward Tsuge. Without the need for speech, they both spend much time visiting the almost vestigial remains of a civilization so proud, yet doomed to fall back into war and self-destruction. It must be Destiny...

P2 may be the ultimate in contemplative, philosophical movies. In the end, the phrase that may best sum up Patlabor 2's spirit is Tsuge's parting comment to these humans, trapped in the complexity of the universe they built... "If I have not committed suicide, it may be because, deep inside, I want to know what's going to happen... to... this city."

Even though Tsuge believes he's had the last word, he too morally depends upon Tôkyô, since he was unable to choose the only solution just because of that city...

Man will lie forever under the charm of Evolution...

Cyber Namida was created and designed by René-Gilles Deberdt. All rights reserved.