Understanding Howl’s moving castle movie?

I jujust watched Howl’s moving castle (I know, it’s been a while since it came out), and I didn’t understand the ending of it. When madam Suleman says “Howl found his true love” or “I see it’s a happy ending” (when you read subtitles), why all of a sudden it was time to end the “stupid war”? I love Hayao Miyazaki’s movies, which in addition to amazing artistry always have many messages and show creator’s philosophy. However, this particular point escapes me. Some of the messages from this movie (aside from the love story) were: horror of any war, personal freedom vs social responsibility, value of forgiveness, etc. I just don’t understand what Miyazaki meant by showing madam Sulleman sudden heart change. Anybody?

The war was started because the kingdom where madam sulleman serves thought that the other country had stolen its prince. And once the scarecrow was turned back into the prince she found out that there was no point to the war and stopped it immediately since the prince was never really taken. It is supposed that the witch of the waste was trying to cause trouble by setting a spell on the prince and like she says to sophie she only knows how to cast curses not take them away. The whole point is even the greatest of people can make mistakes,

2009 Social Artistry Summer leadership Institute

Comments are closed