Miyazaki's 'The Wind Rises' pays homage to Italian aircraft designer

TRENTO, Italy--Acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki's animated historical drama “The Wind Rises” is set to be released in Italy this spring, and Italo Caproni couldn't be happier.

The 40-year-old Caproni is the grandson of Gianni Caproni (1886-1957), an Italian aircraft designer who is depicted in Miyazaki's World War II aviation story.

“The Wind Rises” is based on the life of Jiro Horikoshi (1903-1982), the designer of Japan's Zero fighter aircraft. In the film, an older Caproni encourages a young Horikoshi to follow his dream to design airplanes.

“My grandfather, Horikoshi, and director Miyazaki are all similar in that they are professional and are very fond of creating something,” said Italo Caproni, who lives in a suburb of the northern alpine city of Trento. Trento is also the home of the Gianni Caproni Museum of Aeronautics, which houses about 30 airplanes, including those built by Gianni's company.

An anime fan, Caproni was moved when he first saw Miyazaki’s earlier film, “Porco Rosso,” in 1998. A story about a former Italian World War I fighter ace, “Porco Rosso” was set in the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Italy and featured many airplanes that were similar to aircraft designed by Gianni Caproni.

Caproni was so impressed that he sent Miyazaki two books that contained photos and blueprints of creations of his grandfather's company.

A long-time aviation buff, Miyazaki was no stranger to Gianni Caproni's work. The director had named his Studio Ghibli after the Caproni Ca.309 Ghibli World War II fighter aircraft.

“It is one of my most favorite airplanes," Miyazaki wrote in his reply to Caproni. "That’s why we used the word Ghibli for the name of our animation studio.”

Years later, Miyazaki wrote to Caproni again to tell him that his grandfather would be depicted in “The Wind Rises.”

“Your grandfather appears in my new movie. I am respectful of him,” Miyazaki wrote. “It is thanks to the books you sent me.”

Caproni said he was moved to tears when he first saw “The Wind Rises” at the Venice Film Festival last September.

“After the end of World War II, the existence of my grandfather was denied," he said, adding that his grandfather had been labeled as a “collaborator" in the war.

Caproni said, "I thought director Miyazaki understands my grandfather better than Italians do."

Gianni Caproni designed and manufactured his aircraft in 1910 for the first time in Italy. His aircraft company constructed many fighter planes after World War I broke out in 1914.

In 1940, immediately before Italy entered World War II, the government of Prime Minister Benito Mussolini granted Caproni the title of count. Because of that, Caproni’s factories were destroyed by anti-fascism partisans immediately after the end of the war, and he was forced into hiding, his eldest daughter, Maria Fede Caproni, 80, said.

“For them, my father was probably the ‘last fascist,’ ” she said.

After the war, Caproni tried to revive his company. Seeking investors, he went to the United States and South America. However, he failed to find any backers. The aircraft division of his company collapsed in 1950. Disappointed, he died in 1957.

Italo and Maria Fede said Caproni just wanted to create cutting-edge products and was not a militaristic person. They said there is a letter written by Caproni in 1913, in which he wrote, “The future of aviation is in passenger planes, not wars.”

The symbol of Caproni’s dream was the Ca.60, known as "the world's first jumbo aircraft." The Ca.60 was intended for trans-Atlantic flight. However, it crashed on a test flight in March 1921.

Miyazaki depicted the Ca.60 in a dream sequence in “The Wind Rises.” In the dream, the huge plane flew in the sky.

With “The Wind Rises” scheduled for a spring release, Gualtiero Cannarsi, a translator in Rome in charge of translating Studio Ghibli’s films into Italian, is preparing for the dubbing of the film.

"Horikoshi lived during an unhappy time and lived his life hard for his dream," the 36-year-old Cannarsi said. "People cannot choose the times when they are born. But in any time, you should do your best. That is the message from the movie.”