One Musical Scene: Remembering Laputa's Forgotten Robot Soldier

Music’s integral to the moviegoing experience. It not only enhances its energy, but when timed correctly it also helps set the mood. There are plenty of great composers out there, but my money is with frequent Hayao Miyazaki collaborator Joe Hisaishi. Hisaishi’s worked with Miyazaki since the mid-80’s, giving 10 of his 11 movies to-date a distinct sound. And while Hisaishi switched from electronica to orchestrations in the 90’s, it’s his controversial rescore of Castle in the Sky that I want to focus on. Specifically, I’d like to zone-in on one of my favourite tracks: The Forgotten Robot Soldier.

Two notes: one, there’ll be minor spoilers. I know the movie’s almost 40 years old, but I want to be fair. And two, this track deserves to be listened to on its own. So I’ll share it upfront:

Beautiful, isn’t it? (Courtesy of Chellon88.)

A lot of beauty exists in these almost-5 minutes of music. But it’s what they do in-conjunction with the scene they’re matched to that makes the difference. It plays right after our protagonists, Pazu and Sheeta, have landed on the floating island of Laputa. It’s strange that we spend a short time exploring before everything goes awry, but those precious few minutes are enhanced by the music itself. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

It begins as Pazu and Sheeta are greeted by a robot. The last time we saw one was when it caused destruction, so the calming melody eases the tension. It also highlights the innocence of the Laputian robots by having it remove The Crow’s Nest to reveal a bird’s nest. These robots aren’t inherently good or bad, they do what they’re programmed to do. Do I detect some of Miyazaki’s trademark character ambiguity?

With the nest saved, the robot requests that Pazu and Sheeta follow it to the garden. Which they do, and we get cuts of the wildlife going about their lives. We see tadpoles swimming in the pond, bugs flying and land mammals, particularly fox babies, scurrying along the grass. The music is somber, as if it’s sad that this once-prosperous kingdom’s now an empty forest. The question looms: what happened to Laputa?

We don’t get an answer right away, yet the music turns triumphant as Pazu and Sheeta wander into the garden. While it looks barren and empty at a passing glance, the ecosystem of Laputa’s really complex. So complex, in fact, that the opaque walls on the outside are fully-transparent and reminiscent of a greenhouse on the inside. Even with Laputa no longer having people, it’s still rich with life. It’s reminding the audience that nature doesn’t need humans, so we should be more respectful of it.

The music becomes haunting again as Pazu and Sheeta stumble upon another robot near a tombstone, this one motionless and covered in moss. Sheeta’s shocked, confirming that Laputa has been long-abandoned. The music then changes to somber as Sheeta’s offered a flower by the robot from earlier to place at the graveside, which she accepts and thanks it for. As she places it, she asks the question on everyone’s mind: what happened here, and is this the last robot? Again, we don’t get answers right away, but the feeling of isolation lingers. It’s as if this robot’s been forgotten?

And then, as if providing a bit of hope, we witness the foxes from earlier scamper up the robot and rest on its shoulder. It’s cute, but it brings closure to Sheeta’s concerns. Because while the robot might be “the last of its kind”, it has all the animals for company. That’s another lesson the movie imparts: you don’t need companionship solely from humans. Sometimes animals are enough. Think of all the pets people have in real-life…

As the music comes to its harrowingly-optimistic end, the movie zooms in on Sheeta wiping tears. She’s clearly moved by this encounter, and she’s not afraid to show it. I don’t blame her, as this is melancholic in its own right, displaying the beauty of isolation while reminding everyone of the loss tagged with it. It’s helped by the music, emphasizing the calm before the storm (in this case, an explosion caused by the military). It’s not exactly a long scene in general, but it’s effective.

Much has been made about whether or not this movie needed rescoring. One of the biggest points against it is that the movie had moments of musical silence to enhance the background noise, moments that are “ruined” by a Hollywood-esque score. While I can see that, I still think the orchestrations help anchor Castle in the Sky as a movie in the vein of Star Wars or Indiana Jones films. It has all the hallmarks of both, right down to the hokey storytelling, so why not? Especially if it gives us the aforementioned track?

Either way, this is the epitome of an orchestral stroke of brilliance. And it warrants itself as one musical scene!