No Regrets for Our Youth/ わが青春に悔なし

Kurosawa Akira/ 黒澤明 is one of the all time greats of film direction. There is nothing new about this statement and more people are likely to agree than not (I mean among those people who still care to see his movies in today's world!). The first of his films that I saw was Rashomon. I did not quite understand the story then, although I was mesmerized by his camera work. I had just started learning the Japanese language and saw this movie at a film festival held in New Delhi. Although there were English subtitles, the plot was quite complicated and I was too engrossed in the sheer visual effects of the black and white screen than the story.

The next film I saw was Mada da yo/　まだあだよ. At that point of time, my understanding of the Japanese language was better, a few years having passed by. The experience was too good to describe in words and I have seen this movie several times after that.

I also liked the detective story High and Low/ 天国と地獄, a very catchy story that keeps you rooted to your seat till the end.

Ran/ 乱 and Seven Samurais/ 七人の侍 have wonderful story lines and are excellent examples of fascinating filmography. So is The Quiet Duel/ 静かなる決闘, although the ending is very sad. The Quiet Duel is of course a human drama about the life of a doctor struggling between his convictions and love and social stigma for something he had not committed. My favorite is 夢/ DREAMS, a film that probably not many except Kurosawa buffs would have heard of. Inspired by Natsume Soseki, DREAMS is a collection of several short stories and is very much like watching a slideshow of a string of pictures taken at different locations. It is probably a kaleidoscope of the picturesque mind of the great Japanese film director.

Since then I have tried seeing Kurosawa's lesser known works, the most recent being 一番美しく/ The Most Beautiful (starring Yōko Yaguchi, who would later become Kurosawa's beloved wife despite all the reported arguments they had), and No Regrets for Our Youth/ わが青春に悔なし. I shall talk about the latter here.

Made in 1946, starring the beautiful Hara Setsuko, it is based on the pre-WW2 Takigawa incident of 1932~'33. The story revolves around the three main characters, namely Yukie (played by Hara Setsuko) and two of her father's students Itokawa and Noge, both of whom are trying to court her. Itokawa is a sensible guy, who very much seems to have his head on his shoulders, and has prospects of leading a quiet, pleasantly successful life, while Noge is a radical.

Yukie's father, Professor Yagihara, is removed from his post at Kyoto Imperial University because of his views against fascism. His views were considered too leftist in a Japan where militaristic jingoism was growing.

Yukie, Itokawa and Noge spend much of their time together. The film shows scenes of the three of them and other students climbing through the forest in the mountains. While crossing a mountain stream, Itokawa and Noge have just crossed a stream while Yukie stands transfixed on a rock in the middle of the stream as both Itokawa and Noge extend their hands to help her. Yukie hesitates, takes neither hand and keeps standing. Noge seizes his chance as he marches up to her, takes her in his arms and crosses the stream. Yukie is eventually drawn towards Noge. She is a carefree girl who plays the piano wonderfully well and wants to live a life without regrets.

Time for some food for thought at this juncture. Probably women of today would choose the calm Itokawa over Noge. Times have changed and such firebrand characters are no longer admired and are an oddity that stands out to be hit, someone to be apprehensive and fearful about.

Noge disappears for a while as he is arrested and spends some time in jail. He comes out a much changed man and seems reformed to match the prevailing times. He has got a job in the army. Yukie goes away from the dinner table but comes back to see Noge off on learning that he would be leaving for China.

Crestfallen, Yukie decides to leave her parents home and fend for herself. Her father, Professor Yagihara, tries his best to convince her that the world outside is not as benevolent as the home she has grown up in protected from the outside. She is blissfully unaware of the volatile state of Japanese society at that time. But Yukie is determined to leave her cocoon and after sometime her father relents.

She spends three years working in Tokyo, changing her job several times. As she describes to Noge later, all the jobs she did had been only to earn a living for survival and somehow get by. She wanted to be involved in something greater than that and appealed to Noge to share his secrets with her and allow her into the life that he had been treading so long. In fact it was Itokawa (now a married man leading a peaceful life) who tells Yukie that Noge is in Tokyo when they accidentally bump into each other in the street. Although Yukie summons the courage to go and meet Noge, she is hesitant and fearful of the encounter. Eventually they meet each other when Noge notices her outside the office. They spend time together and finally get married.

Yukie realizes that her husband is involved in illegal activities and that he refuses to tell her about them. He is arrested, the police raid their house and takes Yukie for interrogation. She has a harrowing time but profers no information. Yukie stares blankly in prison and remembers the scene of herself, Noge and Itokawa running in the woods on the mountains in Kyoto. She is freed by Itokawa's good offices. Her parents board the train and reach Tokyo. Although the professor intends to represent his son-in-law in court, Itokawa sadly informs that Noge is already dead. He died the night before their conversation.

Yukie's spirit crumbles as she is crushed by the weight of her circumstances. Noge had once showed her a picture of his parents that he carefully kept in his shirt pocket. It happenned quite by accident when they had hugged and Yukie had asked what was in his pocket. When he had been hesitant, she asked whether it was some secret that he did not want to share. He had said no it wasn't and had shown her the photograph of his father and mother. For some reason he had not kept in touch with them and perhaps as time passed, a crust had developed on old memories keeping them buried and making him uneasy to try and get back to them.

Seeing his heartbroken daughter, the Professor reminds her of the words when she had left home for Tokyo. 「自由の裏には苦しい犠牲と責任がある」。In English, this will translate into something like, "Behind (true) freedom lies great sacrifice and weighty resposibility." (translation mine). Yukie takes her husband's ashes to his parents and tells them that she is his wife. She is spurned initially as Noge's parents think the elegant and rich family girl Yukie's behavior is only mockery in the face of the reality that their son was convicted of being a spy. But she stays on and works with them on the rice fields. Pained though she is to find her in-laws harrassed by other villagers because of their son, she tries to win them over with her sincerity. She works hard even when she has fever.

Noge's mother laments her fate at having had such a bad son. She even buries Noge's ashes (brought by Yukie) at night when all her neighbors are asleep. In contrast, Yukie digs the earth whispering, "I am Noge's wife! I am Noge's wife!"

Yukie starts to go out and work in the fields even in broad daylight (something her mother-in-law had been avoiding). The children of the village run after her shouting, "Spy! Spy!" A startling reminder about how cruel our society, including children, can be to people they have forcibly chosen to turn out as outcasts. This scene reminded me of the novel, "Lord of the Flies"/ 「蠅の王」 by William Golding.

The neighbors destroy their rice fields the very night they finish planting all of them. Yukie shares the sorrow inflicted on her in-laws and finally they begin to understand her. They accept her as their daughter-in-law and she helps them see their son in a new light that he was indeed a good man. After the war ended, Professor Yagihara is reinstated and Noge is honored for his anti-war activities, finally redeeming him in the eyes of his parents. Yukie goes back to visit her parents in Takigawa (Kyoto). Yukie's mother asks her to stay on as she has achieved what she had aimed for and Noge's parents were no longer ashamed of him. But Yukie is now more adept at planting rice than playing the piano. She goes back to work on her in-laws farm where she feels more at ease.

The end is idealistic and Yukie plays the perfect woman supporting her husband and even redeeming him in the eyes of his parents. She understands how son and parents had drifted further and further apart due to his outrageously bold life, and as they drifted further, his sense of insecurity had grown. Finally he had found solace in her through her companionship and understanding nature. Noge used to tell Yukie that he was doing work that could only be appreciated in the distant future. His dream was indeed fulfilled.

Oguma Eiji Sensei commented on Seven Samurai's that such faces of Japanese cannot be found in today's world. Any remake of Kurosawa's 'No Regrets for Our Youth' could at best be a caricature of the life like peasants portrayed in the movie.

This film reminds me of some of Satyajit Ray's materpieces based on the struggles of ordinary people living in the heat, dust and grinding poverty of Bengal under an oppressive political regime. I could finally understand why Ray admired his work so much, although the two Asian greats were born in such different societies under very dissimilar circumstances, .

Japan at that time was so much like the India I grew up in. That is why I feel so connected to Ozu films, even though I am a foreigner in this land, and was born decades after such films were made.

A great movie that holds lessons for children of today, including those of contemporary Japan. Many people talk so glibly about freedom and justice and equality these days, hardly understanding the meaning of such words. Are such people, born in affluence without a care about what happens in this world, really free? Aren't they bound to their branded products, petty values et al, just pretending to be free birds while strutting in a cage? Maybe we do need to comtemplate more deeply upon, "Behind (true) freedom lies great sacrifice and weighty resposibility." Amen.

Not in silence, not in sound

"Love always finds a place
Not in silence, not in sound."

John Leeds and Sarah Norman play the roles of teacher and student respectively in the movie Children of a Lesser God. Sarah is deaf and cannot hear any sound. Her world is one of absolute silence, while inside her rages a storm that few can scarcely claim to understand wholly including her unconventional teacher (John). Sarah screams not knowing the racket she is raising. Sounds of silence!

From lines in the dialogue like, "If you want to talk to me talk in my language," etc. the movie ends on a concilliatary note of understanding. After each tries to discover a little of the others world. When John Leeds stays underwater to find out silence (Sarah could not share his love for classical music and asks him to describe what it is like), when the beautiful Sarah says she did not know how much she could hurt people, they try to discover a world of their own. This movie cannot be described in a review. It has to be seen and interpreted in the language of silence.
This movie above all teaches us that we can reach a higher plane of understanding if only we are ready to explore each other in our human relationships that we share in a blip in time called life. And in the process we must be prepared to be hurt a little at times by those that we love.

From Jae Hind to Jae Ho: ‘Ma tujhe salaam!’

Destiny wins! I salute thee Mother! The movie Slumdog Millionaire has been one of the hot topics being discussed for the last couple of months. Incisive criticism from many quarters continued to pelt, as the film picked up a lot of other awards before finally making it at the coveted Oscars. All this culminated in a climax that ended with eight Oscar Academy awards on the night of February 22, 2009. And what a night it was! As so many newspapers across India have gushed. Indeed, all is well that ends well.

Congratulations flowed now across the country. The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conveyed the message to the Millionaire team. There have been reports that President Barack Obama wants to watch the movie. Hope he does! Amitabh Bacchan too came out with praise. Amir Khan has already done it before. But recently is reported to have said something opposite. Makes me wonder whom to believe, the press or the filmstars?! Danny Boyle publicly acknowledged on stage and made up for not having mentioned the name of Longines Fernandes, only proving his greatness once again. AR Rahman came out on top with his great music. Parliamentarians reportedly shouted Jae Ho.

As much as it has been said that it is not an Indian movie, the fact is that it has been filmed in India, has an almost entirely Indian cast with child actors who actually lived in those slums till they were picked up by the Millionaire team, and an ambitious music director from India who dared to dream. Vikas Swarup, the author of the novel on which this film is based, is an Indian diplomat. Loveleen Tandon is the co-director. (How much more ‘Indian’ can it get!) Apart from the liberties given to art and fiction, this movie has no other drawbacks and shows up the poverty in India that is very real.

This is a movie that deserves praise despite all the fault lines in the story that many critiques have tried to single out. My advice to them is, “Don’t pick your nose in public. It is a bad habit.” Some newspaper articles did hit the nail right on the head when they mentioned that many Indian movies are shot abroad and show a kind of affluent lifestyle that is but an impossible dream for millions of Indians. No one has prevented filmmakers in India from making movies about reality, and life as it is in most parts of the country. Satyajit Ray did it without the fancy cameras that are available to film directors today. Most Hindi movies depicting big houses, sports cars, rich heroes etc. portray a kind of lifestyle that is as much alien to the bulk of Indians as the poverty in this movie is to the affluent West.

Amartya Sen, in his book The Argumentative Indian (p. 127), has written:
“There is, for example, nothing false about Indian poverty, nor about the fact – remarkable to others – that Indians have learned to live normal lives while taking little notice of the surrounding misery.”

In the previous page, he has written about the ‘love of the false-exotic’:
“It is not obvious whether the imaginary scenes of splendour shown in such ‘entertainment movies’ should be seen as misdescriptions of the India in which they are allegedly set, or as excellent portrayals of some non-existent ‘never-never land’ (not to be confused with any real country).”

This is a film that (I hope) will help break many myths. One of them is that poverty ‘sells’ in the West. It does not as much as it is being made out to be. The affluent countries get to see so little of the seemingly unreal world in poverty stricken areas that these rare efforts must move some of them at least a bit. Of course, people get to see poverty even in developed nations. There are documentaries made on them. If Indians want to see them write to the national television and ask them to telecast such programs. Indians are the ones who are used to growing up with desperate squalor around them. They are more likely to develop ‘immunity’ to the problem than foreigners. Not that all Indians are like that! The second are the myths that are made by Indians themselves and those propagated by foreigners about India. Foreigners who do not live in India or those who come to visit for only a few days, are likely to have distorted views about the country. That is not the real problem. It is how we Indians project our image that matters. I have heard Indian’s proudly claim that 90 percent of Indians know English. In a country that has a literacy rate of 64.8 percent? (That means almost a billion English speakers!) Are you kidding! What kind of mathematics is that! Admitting it does not take away the fact that India has excelled in certain fields, has remote sensing satellites orbiting the earth and is dreaming of a manned mission to the moon, and due to a burgeoning middle class rocketed by the exploding population is soon to become the country with the largest number of English speakers in the world.

It also does not take away the fact that some Indians can actually write excellent English. WB Yeats, a great poet in his own right was woefully off the mark when he wrote in a letter to his friend shortly after writing the introduction for Gitanjali (the collection of poems that won Rabindranath Tagore, arguably one of the greatest poets and writers, the nobel prize for literature), “Tagore does not know English, no Indian knows English.” That was when India was not yet independent. Things have changed now. In the year 2000, a British company which recruits teachers for UK schools, started recruiting English teachers from India with the conviction that the accent may be different but Indians could be good English teachers all the same. Indian English writers like Amitav Ghosh have proven that their cult owns the English language as much as the native authors. Professor Roger Pulvers wrote in The Japan Times about bringing more English teachers from India to Japan. Craig Storti wrote in his book Speaking of India that the problem about Indian English was more about the different speeds with which Indians usually speak English more than grammatical mistakes that makes spoken Indian English hard to grasp. The mountain is slowly being reduced to the size of a molehill. And you will agree that not many people in the US had much of a problem understanding Anil Kapoor’s Indian accent!
But I am sorry to say that I am not too proud of the kind of English that some Indian English teachers in Japan speak and there are many English teachers in schools in small towns in India who could do a far better job if only they were "discovered".

There is nothing to be ashamed about poverty. Mark Tully, former BBC correspondent in India for 25 years has often been asked by visitors to India, “How do you put up with the poverty?” I would like to quote his answer here.

“Well, I think it’s a rather stupid question because whether I put up with it or not isn’t going to really affect the poverty. But I think there is one answer that can be given and that is, at least one can try to respect the poor.”

Mark Tully is speaking about Kolkata here in particular, the city in which he was born. He also says (about India), “… I tried to show the poor as people, not as objects of pity. I wanted to demonstrate that they retain their dignity inspite of the hardships they suffer…” Let us not lament about the poverty in the film.

As my Economist friend (Dr. Rajarshi Majumder) wrote to me, “I liked SM. It is a story of Hope amidst Poverty, of optimism amidst anguish, and of Love in troubled times. I really appreciate the way the movie showed that life's varied experiences, which during the time they are experienced seems so dark, also leads to a high moral confidence and capability to face problems and never loose hope. Watch it.”

The real heroes in the movie are the kids like Azharuddin and Rubina. While the former reportedly said that he was very, very very…. Happy, and the latter’s neighbor who watched her grow up commented that it was like happiness falling from the sky. There can be no doubt about their happiness. Now they are getting government flats too. I do not know whether they have become ‘millionaires’ but they have really made it out of the black hole of poverty. That is their destiny and let us rejoice.

India has never lacked talent. Here is the gauntlet for all those people who want an ‘all Indian win’ at the Oscars (if there can be something as hundred percent as that!) Since no one has ever stopped them, let all the famous filmmakers and actors/ actresses in India unite for once and make a project that wins such an ‘all Indian’ Oscar rather than cribbing about it! Jae Ho! Victory be yours!

Notes:
1. Ma Tujhe Salaam are the words of a Hindi song composed by AR Rahman. It means, “I salute thee Mother.” Mother in this case is Mother India.
2. The quotation about what Mark Tully said has been taken from the audiobook Mark Tully’s India. (punctuation mine).
3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/999985.stm ‘Indian teachers for UK schools’ (Tuesday, 31 October, 2000).
4. Sadly, the movie is yet to start showing in Japan. It will only start in the later part of April 2009 though all the other movies made last year (including super flops!) have been screened in movie theatres here. It would be interesting to see how people here react to the movie here. May be dubbing it into Japanese is taking a lot of time? Efforts are being made by NHK, the national television in Japan which produced a series of programs on India, and some Japanese authors who have started showing and writing about India with fresh insight. A welcome change maybe?
5. Unlike what is being said by many critics, this movie has many elements of popular Bollywood Hindi movies too, albeit in more refined, subtler and newly repackaged form. It has the hero, the heroine, the villains who trouble the heroine, a thriller plot, and truimph of the hero as he wins his heroine in the end, with dance and music. And, unlike many Bollywood movies, this movie does not project breaking the law as something heroic. Think about it!
6. Even Satyajit Ray was accused of ‘selling’ poverty when he made Pather Panchali in 1955. His movie was based on a novel written before independence (1929). The novel was Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's first as a novelist and the film was Satyajit Ray's debut as a director. Five decades after Pather Panchali the film, the critics are being shameless because we still seem to have enough abundance of poverty to ‘sell’ for probably another five decades!!

Sunset on Third Street: Sanchoume no Yuuhi ALWAYS (Japanese movie, 2005)

This is one of the most stunningly moving Japanese movies I have ever seen. Set in post world war II Tokyo, Japan, in the 1950's when the Tokyo tower was being built giving dreams to people, the success lies in simplicity and it’s all pervading ‘Japaneseness’. All the actors and actresses have done an excellent job. Definitely a movie you would like to see with your family around you including your little kids cozying up.

Credit goes to director/ filmmaker Mr. Takashi Yamazaki, whose experience with animation and visual effects is quite evident in his work of turning a popular manga into a touching film.

This movie is about togetherness, the value of family, love and the greatness of believing in your future even when things are not going right. It is about the subtle comedy that happens to the budding writer as he pursues his dream and makes little slips on the way. It is also about a young kid finding a home when he doesn’t have one. It is a movie that brings tears of joy.

The Tokyo of the yester years as shot on film seems amazingly real. This is not about the Japan of today. It is about the Japan that was. Nostalgia for a world that was so warmly humane; hardworking yet not hurried. This movie deserves a wider audience across borders in this age of the great tug-of-war between modernity and sweet nostalgia.

The veteran actors and actresses in the movie are undoubtedly superb in their performance. The owner of the automobile repair shop, Mr. Norifumi Suzuki (played by Shinichi Tsutsumi) and his comical tantrums; his wife Mrs. Tomoe Suzuki (Hiroko Yakushimaru), the perfectly caring Japanese wife, coldly reserved but extremely loving; Ms. Hiromi Ishizaki (played by none other than Koyuki of The Last Samurai fame!), her moments of anxiety, unsure ness and reticence of a woman in love; and, Mr. Ryunosuke Chagawa (Hidetaka Yoshioka) the writer aspiring for the Akutagawa Ryunosuke literary prize, in his touching and almost theatrical despair and agony.

Special praise goes to the apprentice, the young and simply beautiful Ms. Mutsuko Hoshino (Maki Horikita). She walks in beauty … one shade the more, one ray the less … (courtesy poet genius Lord Byron). Her first appearance at the mechanic’s household, her hesitance in saying her old fashioned, ordinary name aloud as self-introduction; her oldie colloquial Japanese (Aomori dialect of northern Japan) and village bumpkinish, childlike, innocent demeanor, her reception by the Suzuki’s and her reactions to their behavior is brilliant acting. The sense of wonder and surprise in experiencing city life for the first time is visible in her eyes. She has such a lovely baby face (you can praise the makeup artist for that if you like) in the movie that it was a pain to look at the semi-clad photographs that appeared of their own accord on the screen while searching the internet for more information on her. I am sorry I did not recognize her as the same person in the movie. May be actresses/ actors are highly talented people with multiple personality disorder! (laugh!) Forget the hashed metaphor. No offence meant! A star actress of the future if she keeps her head on her shoulders. She could also be cool with tomboyish appearances. You must have realized by now that I am smitten by the character she plays in the movie. She is a wonderful elder sister to Ippei. The Suzuki family deserves attention for the way they fit Mutsuko into their household as one of their own.

The high point of the movie is the scene in which the shy and stuttering Chagawa confesses his love for Hiromi and proposes to her on Christmas eve with an empty box containing an imaginary engagement ring that he could not yet afford. Hiromi’s response is dramatic as she puts on the non-existent ring with elaborate effort on her ring finger. Touché!

The thoroughly loveable parts are played by the two kids Master Ippei Suzuki (Kazuki Koshimizu), the mechanic’s son and Master Junnosuke Furuyuki (Kenta Suga) the abandoned boy. They are both matchless and I am not sure who the better actor of the two is. Both of them deserve high praise and a bear hug for their roles. Hats off! Thumbs up! Atama ga sagarimasu!

This movie has a sequel that is as good as the first part.

You can check out the plot summary on ‘encylolibraria’ Wikipedia online. It is a pretty good one but I would mildly suggest you see the real movie before that.

Thanks to my Indian friend Anubhuti who introduced it to me.