from Spain.
Night flying in those
rickety planes was a challenge.
To get an idea of how
Saint-Exupery looked while flying…
… Miyazaki goes aloft
in the AN-2.
He's going to watch
the «Breguet» in flight.
I wish he'd fly
a little slower!
Can he fly
a little lower?
Another five meters.
Have him go lower,
like he's going away.
That's it.
Keep flying low.
Just a little longer.
I wanted the town
in the background.
Tell him to fly
underneath us.
Great! This is amazing!
That old guy's amazing!
Miyazaki looks right
down on the 'Breguet'.
He's having
a great time.
But he's not finished.
Next he wants the pilot
to fly near the clouds.
It's a risky maneuver.
Beautiful! Just beautiful!
That's wonderful.
He's skimming the clouds.
I want him to fly away
more slowly.
Miyazaki's next request…
…is for the «Breguet»
to say «farewell» and fly off.
He doesn’t understand.
He's coming right back.
Not far enough.
Farther, farther! Keep going!
Like heading back to Paris.
Miyazaki is wearing
his director's hat.
He's not supposed
to be doing stunts.
I’d Iike him
to fly slowly away.
There’s an old lady walking.
I thought we were crashing,
but we landed.
That was really beautiful.
It was like seeing a
coral reef for the first time.
How close did you get?
I could see
the pilot's expression.
He was watching us
carefully while he flew.
What a pro!
That was great!
The spirit of Saint-Exupery
and the old-time barnstormers…
…lives on today.
Now Miyazaki's
real journey begins.
He's going to retrace
the very same route…
… the mail pilots flew
from Toulouse to Morocco.
The route runs
past the Pyrenees…
… to the Mediterranean
and down the Spanish coast.
Then over the Straits
of Gibraltar to Africa.
Day one takes Miyazaki
to Alicante, Spain.
The journey to the Sahara
is 3, 000 kilometers.
That's three hours by jet.
Flying by day, the AN-2 …
… will take at least four days.
The AN-2 has an
open crop dusting port.
There's no glass barrier
to Saint-Exupery's world.
Miyazaki can't tear
himself away.
Vineyards!
Vineyards, then
the mountains.
Toulouse is 30 minutes behind.
The Pyrenees rise ahead.
Treacherous winds made them
the bane of pilots.
Old-time pilots
navigated by sight.
They really depended
on landmarks to guide them.
If it rained,
pilots couldn’t find them.
Mail pilots were bound
by strong ties of friendship.
Saint-Exupery wrote
about this as well.
Before Saint-Exupery's
first flight as a mail pilot…
…his senior colleague Guillaumet…
… carefully described
each landmark on the route.
It might be
three orange trees…
… or a farmhouse
on a mountainside.
Each landmark was
a sign of human presence.
I see the Mediterranean.
We veer to the right and
follow the coast to Spain.
Spain is bathed
in summer sunshine.
As always, Miyazaki
can't take his eyes from the view.
He's hoping to see those
three orange trees…
… or the farmhouse
Saint-Exupery wrote about.
But over the past 70 years…
… the face of this region
has changed enormously.
Resorts dot the coast, with
new buildings everywhere.
The AN-2 leaves the coast
and turns inland.
There are no trees or farms
in these barren mountains.
Nothing he can see matches
Saint-Exupery's accounts.
Eight hours after
leaving Toulouse…
… the plane reaches Alicante.
Spain has really changed
over the years.
This is a harsh land.
As if Man consumed everything
and left behind just a husk.
The cheap resort hotels
along the coast...
...and all the new homes
in the mountains.
None of it was there before.
Back then,
there would’ve been…
...one farmhouse all by itself
on the mountain.
Three orange trees
would’ve been conspicuous.
Day two: Alicante
to Tangier, Morocco.
Spain's Costa del Sol coast.
One of the Mediterranean's
major resort areas.
But the scenery holds
no interest for Miyazaki.
Clouds.
The Antonov skims
over a sea of clouds.
What's it like
to touch a cloud?