Raj KaramcheduA Tree of Palme – Directed by Takashi Nakamura (Animation Director: Mamoru Sasaki. Released in 2001 with English version in 2005.)
To say The Tree of Palme’s animation is breathtaking is to miss the point, nearly. We are drawn into a layered landscape, where life’s purposes, desires, limitations are manifest in physical form. In the orotund rocks and boulders, and in the strange shapes with musical sounds that emerge from under your feet, lies a backdrop for the strange sub-plots, and for the story set in strange lands.
When it’s all over, you are filled with a heavy sense–you wonder if it’ll ever go away–of a pre-reflective awareness of tragedy that only children seem to possess intuitively.
When the movie opens, the blue light hanging from the roof, seen in front of the window, sets the tone, and the still-ness of a human girl (the recasting of human-ness into a novelty is only one of the improvisations of the anime art) in the dead center of the screen is an unmistakable prelude to a foreboding tragedy.
What can one say about the plot? It is as if a massive sweep is made by an unseen hand through giant swaths of civilizations of past and future, a solemn cloud of time is then selected for its loneliness, plucked, and is set in motion. When time is this lonely it creates moments of turmoil in the history like the one in The Tree of Palme.
No matter the story is based on Pinocchio, but the work stands on itself, constantly overflowing the technology, and even the sheer brilliance of the artistry behind it, reaching out and waking up the slumbered corners of the viewer’s heart and soul.
We see Palme first when he is chasing a Niger Triggerfish, and we are unsure: is it bravery or a child-like obliviousness to danger? The first glimpse of his puppet-like behavior shows when he rips his leg, caught in the crack of boulders, revealing a bunch of broken wires, and still goes blindly after the Triggerfish with an uninterrupted gaping smile in his face, eyes dead fixated on the target.
The point of this scene is not to tell us about a puppet-robot child. It is about the deep dark roots of a tortured soul in a way very few “real” movies tell us. His creator, Fou, watching him from the ground below, is reminded of Xian, his wife. He knows Palme has the same qualities of rushing headlong into the unknown, little realizing what he is up to, or up against. Fou created Palme as a gift to his wife Xian but Palme shuts down when Xian dies.
Until the knowledge that Palme is a puppet-robot hits us we don’t realize how groundless his beginnings are (ground as in grounded in human-ness), and yet the deep yearning that he begins to feel are ours–our very own yearnings. The blue blood of Xian marks the time in the scene as a beginning of a life (of Palme) that we are stoked to understand.
The main story here is simple. Palme is a puppet-robot, yearning to become human. Tamas, the world Below is where Palme should go to become human. The Tree of Palme is the story of Palme’s journey to Below. But Palme carries the secret, the Egg of Touto, that could potentially destroy the world Below. A blue pendant in his neck acts as a protector. The precious oil of kooloop tree, which flows in Palme’s veins, will keep the Egg alive.
Guided only by the inner voices from somewhere his own wooden heart, and by the aural reminders of the old man Fou to go to Tamas, Palme sets out on a journey. Falls in with a group of escaping children, whose leader is Shatta.
Palme, ever mesmerized by the blue pendant, but not knowing exactly what it represents, accidentally drops it, and it lands next to the little girl Popo, marking a beginning of the friendship.
When Roualt beats him on his head, mad at Palme’s enigmatic ways, the children are surprised to learn that Palme is a puppet. Now the kids are fascinated with this synthetic puppet-robot.
Fight breaks out, kids taking sides.
“You’ll be as bad as the grown-ups you hate!”
“Settle down, will you? It’s just a kooloop-wood puppet.”
“But he’s one of us!”
“Let’s not fight. Even puppets don’t want to get torn apart.”
Palme’s first sign of self-recognition comes in a brief flashy moment when, as he was about to be swallowed by a maggot, he realizes Xian, his mother, is dead. He loses hope, ready to give in to death, and your heart breaks when we see Palme turn into the kooloop tree as the sap inside him has taken roots and starts to grow into the tree.
Yet you know exactly what he is thinking when Koram, who gave him the Egg, appears in his vision and goads him not to give up. She reminds him that Xian is alive within Palme. The clouds start to clear away from his incipient mind.
The metaphor here is touching. As long as Palme gives up on the idea that Xian is alive, he loses hope and can’t help turning himself into a tree. As soon as Palme realizes that Xian is alive inside him, as that kooloop-tree oil, Palme is awake, and there is still hope.
There is an amazing lyrical scene on the ship. As they are talking, suddenly the sky opens up and a blue Stone light shower starts falling from the Roof. Palme is absolutely mesmerized. Popo, fascinated with the purity of his delight, decides to show him more, takes him to the middle of the lake. They sit silently and wait. As light turns dark, Selene flowers emerge from undersea and float gently upwards, releasing their pollen. They eat the crystallized honey that these giant flowers carry, secreted by the insects.
The greatness of Takashi Nakamura lies in the manner in which Palme’s growing self-awareness is expressed through a series of intense interactions with humans. Palme asks Popo to come with him to Below. When Popo’s mother refuses and lashes at them viciously, Palme self- consciously covers his wiry exposed arm. Is it the beginning of him turning into human?
“If I were a human, your mother wouldn’t talk to me like that. It’s not good being a puppet,” laments Palme wistfully.
When Roualt threatens to kill Popo unless Palme’s oil is handed over to him, Palme steps in and offers his oil to Roualt by stabbing himself. Do we need any more proof of Palme’s effusing humanity?
There is a scene in which a floating grass tulip playfully follows Palme. In a burst of juvenile bravado, Shatta climbs up on this floating grass tulip, bursts its flower and floats down with the tulip parachute. Popo, the ever sensitive little girl, is upset at the burst flower. Palme says, “It’s only a dead grass.”
The irony is not lost on the viewer in what Palme just said. Is it a child-like detachment, or a sign that Palme, a puppet in whose very veins flow a kooloop tree’s sap, is already turning into a human?
The maggot bola shows Popo the dream of her father. But Palme thinks Popo is hurt, drives bola away and starts yelling at Popo:
“I’ll get rid of it! Things like this start hanging around because you can never cheer up and act human. At this rate I will never become human!”
This scene suddenly rings ominous chords. We sense that this movie has just taken a huge turn into another unknown in Palme’s journey.
These and other scenes like the next, propel this movie into heights of permanence.
When everyone is sleeping, Palme takes his sword out of its sheath, and starts playing. Out of the bushes a baby aguri, a deer like animal, playfully approaches.
Now we see a devilish smile in Palme’s face. He grins, hides the sword, and beckons the aguri:
“Come here, come on, that’s it. Nice aguri!” and as it nears his sword’s reach, with a vicious swing Palme kills the innocent animal.
Takashi Nakamura’s liner notes tell us why he crafted this scene:
“Although this is an accident, it is a big one that leaves Palme with a hunk of guilt like a black rock inside his heart. But, that realization cannot end his soul search. With that act, something inside him breaks. Palme senses unconsciously that something has died. But he cannot stop or turn back. That’s the cruelty of this scene.”
Next morning when Popo falls into deep sorrow at the death of aguri, Palme’s demeanor is clearly defensive.
Palme: “Do you want to turn into stone, I want to become human, it’s time to go!”
Popo: “Aren’t you sad?”
Palme: “I am a puppet.”
Popo: “You didn’t used to be like that! You are strange now.”
Palme: “I know I am strange! That’s why I am trying to become human.”
Popo: “Palme!” aghast at his pretentious behavior.
When Popo collapses at the entrance of Below, tired and no longer able to walk, Palme agonizes like a thief caught in the cul-de-sac.
Palme starts dragging Popo, shouting, “Soon I’ll be human! Don’t give me any more trouble! Think more about MY predicament!”
“What do I do? What do I do? What am I going to do?” and bites his hand, only to see that the small saplings sprout from where he bit his teeth on the back of his palm.
Now the tragedy of Palme is all too clear for us. His mind and soul is turning into human, selfish, self-centered, rushing hither and thither but he still has the puppet’s body. He is aghast and helpless at this, slowly a revolt brewing in his heart. He rips them “Damn these things!”
But when he reaches Below, the people trap Palme, ready to kill him for the Egg that is implanted in his head. To let Palme escape, Koram leaves a trail of destruction.
Palme, all shot, blood gushing from his injuries, says to Shatta:
“I am sick and tired of being a stupid puppet! I am going to become a strong man like you! I am going to become human for Popo’s sake. I want to stay by her side forever!”
Collapsing to his knees, with blood gushing from his injuries, the puppet’s bare knuckles curl in a gesture of a plea, “Please! Let me become human!”
We are only half-way into the movie by this scene. What follows is intense, horrifying and tragic. Caught in the fate between Koram’s single-minded pursuit of her father, the survival of people, and his urge to become human, Palme’s finality can only be understood by watching this unforgettable tale of humanity with the solitude of the audience it deserves.
See the full movie on YouTube, English dubbed, linked below (I prefer English subbed.)
I wrote this personal impression sometime in early 2005 when I first saw the movie in Osaka, Japan. I am so drawn to this movie that I am pulling this article out of my archives and publishing it here, this time with a few pictures scoured from the net.
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