Dear Internet,
As you
have most likely surmised, I like Akira Kurosawa films. Well, that might have been hard to surmise
considering that I have only reviewed two of his films. But you must remember that not everything
that I review is what I have watched, for there are things that I have seen
before starting the blog. There are works
that I would instantly place upon the level of "Waiting in the Summer,"
"Throne of Blood," and "The Complete Father Brown," all
works that I have praised highly. Going
back over all the various things that I have read, watched, or played that
warrant praise or should be recommended would take even more of my time than what
the experiment that I have started already takes up. So to partially allow my laziness to continue
for at least one day more and to work on the task at hand, let us look at
"Rhapsody in August."
Set in
the rural outskirts of Nagasaki in 1990, "Rhapsody in August" centers
around a Japanese family that learns of a dying man in Hawaii that may be the
brother of the family's matriarch Kane.
Kane has two children who have two children each. Her two children along with their spouses go
to Hawaii to determine the authenticity of the claim of relationship from the
man. Meanwhile, the grandchildren spend
the summer with the grandmother at her country home. The film constantly harkens back to the
atomic bomb drop in 1945 that Kane witnessed and lived through. It also examines the various different relationships
that the three generations have with the event.
Near the end of the film, Clark, the son of Suzujiro who is the brother
of Kane, comes into the film as a representative of the United States in a way
and how he reacts to the bombing.
One key
character that I did not mention, since he never actually makes an appearance,
is the grandfather, husband to Kane. He
died the day of the bombing in the school, partially because he was a school
teacher and the building was used as a shelter.
While he never makes an appearance, or is even named now that I try to
remember, the grandfather's death is something that is the center point of the
film. The grandmother still mourns for
him. The adults, when visiting the
Hawaiians, make no mention of the bombing and his death. The children are introduced to the stories of
the attack as well as tales of both the grandfather and Kane's other
brothers.
The
stories that the children hear are presented in a manner that makes them seem
like ghost stories. The grandmother is
an expert storyteller, able to make spines shutter with ease. However, she says that none of her stories
are scary ad are true. For example, she
tells her grandchildren about a water imp rescuing her brother from drowning,
making sure to describe the face made of leaves and green hands poking through
the darkness. The children obviously
take it as a ghost story. The youngest
one uses the water imp story to overcome his fears by scaring the rest. Then there is the story of two trees split by
lighting that is told against the backdrop of two lovers eloping. It recalls the classic Japanese story of two
doomed lovers committing suicide together.
While these stories are rather light if taken as tall tales, they act as
forerunners for the story of the great atomic eye. The great eye, while at first seeming to be
another one of the possible tall tales, is shown to be a real horror which
makes the ghost stories the playthings they are.
I do
not want to go farther than this into the plot without ruining the story. Instead I want to take a moment to look at
how the film addresses the various characters reactions to Nagasaki's
bombing. Each age group could be seen as
a generational reaction to the bombing.
The grandmother never forgets the atrocity and prays for the souls of
the departed on a regular basis. The
adults wish to ignore or downright deny the event to increase their chances of
international relationships. The
children, who learn of the event, wish to understand the full picture while not
blaming anyone specifically. The single
character from the States, who has no right to apologize or should since he
cannot talk for others, admits his sorrow for his ignorance while trying to
connect with his family. Each generation
handles the event differently to the point of being a stand in for general
Japanese reaction to the event.
The
grandmother, who bore witness to it, is the generation that is almost
forgotten. She knows firsthand what war
can do. She admits her grudge against
America was deep, but is now gone because she understand that war is not
something that is clean. There are no
actions in war that can be wholly justified.
She wishes that the Japanese did not die but also acknowledges that the US
had lost people too and wanted to end the war to save their own troops. This can be seen as the older generation who
directly never wanted to create a situation where an atomic weapon could be
used. You could even go as far as read
the passivism that is sometimes found in older Japanese concerning the war, but
I would be stepping outside my line with that comment.
The
adults are the middle generation seen as the Japan that wishes for economic
growth through association and ties to the States. When they return from Hawaii, all they can do
is talk about how rich their relatives are and how they hope to get a job
working for them. The grandmother scolds
them for their talk, saying they sound like "beggars." Their actions can be seen as the Japan that prospered
due to American influence. Whether this can
be seen as a criticism of Japan riding America's coattail until they were able
to stand on their own can be up for debate.
The fact remains that the film wants to highlight the generation's
willingness to submit themselves to an outside force for the sake of economic
advancement despite becoming sub servant.
The
children, however, are something of a blank slate. They learn about the bombing from one who
witnesses the sky crack open. While the
adults were at one time in the same position, the children have one
advantage. They can see how their
parents, who heard the same stories, have reacted since. The adults' choices are ones where they are
willing to put aside the past to the point of ignoring it. When they do this, it only makes more
problems in the long run, like how Clark had to quickly fly to Japan and act as
an envoy while losing something before the end.
The children still have their innocence but can learn from the mistakes of
the parents.
 | |
| The children lower their hat at a jungle gym that was melted by the bomb's fires. |
Clark
is hard to place. He is a descendent of
a Japanese immigrant but is so American that it almost is annoying. I say this rather jokingly because they got
Richard Gere to play the single American, an actor who can sometimes come
across as being God's gift to women.
Casting choice aside, the film puts him in a bit of all the roles of the
other generations. He laments the death
of his uncle like the grandmother, is business prone like the adults, and comes
into the picture with an innocent blank slate of the effects of Nagasaki. However, he is still an American, and the
film does not forget this. He cannot
apologize since he has no right to do so, since he had nothing to do with the
bomb or is in a position to ask for forgiveness. What he can do is, and does, is share in the
sorrow of the dead and pray for them.
This is all that can be asked for since nothing can bring back those
that are gone.
"Rhapsody
in August" is a film about the bombing, and despite my attempt at analysis
which might make it seem otherwise, it is not preachy. It has something to say, but it does not do
it with a hammer. It says it like a
grandmother telling bedtime stories to children, with tenderness and
caution. The film is not cramming its
message down your throat. It does it
gently while respecting the topic it touches without resorting to kid gloves. Even without the topic of the bombing of Nagasaki,
the film creates a touching story about a family that has enough moments filled
with laughter and tears to easily warrant a viewing.
Yours in digital,
BeepBoop
P.S. Tomorrow is the "Saikano" animation.
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