The film shook me, and in the final scene, the scene of brushing my teeth brought me to tears. The height reached by "Blind Girl Ah Ling" is still admirable a few years later.
If before the Meiji Restoration, the spirit and appearance of the Japanese were defined by "peace and soul", then after the defeat in World War II, the Japanese way of life was more influenced by the occupier, the United States. The impact is enormous and thorough. Because although the Japanese mainland has not been invaded, as a party that has failed and accepted the occupation, it has a deep inferiority and blind obedience from the heart. The reality of withering and ruin makes survival extremely difficult, and to survive means to change and give up, which means to say goodbye to the past and invest in a new era. Defeat is not terrible, what is terrible is the annihilation and substitution of the cultural spirit.
This gesture of abandonment and change is the life chosen by the second son, Koji, and the handsome and trendy he cannot stand the oppressive atmosphere of the country's defeated father and son. In a chaotic and unfamiliar country controlled by the occupiers, he felt a sudden vitality, a temptation to start all over again on the ruins. He has ideals, a lover who likes him, but the girl under the fence sees the paleness behind Hikari's ideals. The future plan, which seemed to be a castle in the air, was simply impossible for this young man who was confused with his bare hands. He lacks a kind of strength, a kind of courage and determination that will not be spared no matter what happens.
But these samurai spirits are only superficial efforts. Towards the end of the film, the family finally sets foot on the land of their ancestral home. However, the younger son accidentally smashed his brother's urn on the railroad tracks. In an instant, the world suddenly lost color, and the atmosphere was on the verge of erupting. The most precious things suddenly ceased to exist, and all the hardest efforts became in vain. The director's skill reaches its peak: a toothbrush inexplicably appears in the hands of her youngest son, Keita, and the audience sees his father's hearty and relaxed smile in a confused state. This depressed and depressed man, who has been stretching his face all the way, laughed loudly at the station in his hometown when he watched his son's broken urn...
Hometown is the end of the family's travels. But there is also a homeland that exists in the heart of every wanderer. They are all fathers, brothers and sisters in their hometown. They laughed and stared at the samurai films banned by the United States on board. They met in peace but were close and harmonious. They dare to speak out the pain and secrets of their hearts and are understood and tolerated. This sea, this boat, has an invisible bond that turns these strangers into a family, a village. This bond is the moonlight, the wonderful natural sound of the wind.
Everyone actually understood, Li Bai raised his head to look at the moon, Du Fu Caotang sat dry, Lu You mourned before he died, and Jiaxuan looked north of the lonely city. What permeates the intoxicating thing in this ocean and the lonely wheel is the feeling of home and country, that is, the attachment and love for the hometown and the motherland!
It all melts into bland and witty narrative shots, occasionally set off by some distant shots. We were all deceived by the director's simple and simple methods, and unconsciously we were deeply involved in the experience of the family's travels. Iwashita Shima, who plays her mother, has a somewhat foxy and strange temperament, which dissolves all the doubts and emotional waves of the audience one by one. She was like the embodiment of the Bushido spirit that could never be defeated, maintaining composure and dignity, until the moment the toothbrush that brought great spiritual shock appeared, she was as plain as water as if she had not predicted the prophet.
The protagonists of this movie are men. From Naoto Takenaka, who holds the ashes of his comrades in the smoke with an indifferent expression, to his father who is resolute and reckless and reclusive, to his second son Koji, who is looking for a new life and a new world, to the innocent and cute young son Keita, who likes to observe and record. There are also black market merchants with slippery tongues, wanted deserters, uncles who insist on showing samurai films, and the loss of the principal who students are desperate to live. In addition to men, there are prostitutes who give up on themselves and orphan girls under the fence. They either participated in the war or experienced it. These group portraits show that they are living in the plight of life caused by the war. This is the dilemma of the individual, but also the dilemma of the state and the nation. Although the war is not depicted, the director indirectly criticizes the injustice and absurdity of the war. The focus of the film has always been how to survive in the post-war era, this survival is not an animalistic solution to food and clothing, but in line with the great title of human beings to maintain dignity and proud to stand up and develop.
Women are the ones who hold the keys, and they are the lovers of their mother and Mitsuji. The men had exhausted their strength and spirit in this war, withered and suffered after the defeat, and only the women remained awake and calm. Their soothing and love, like the moonlight and the evening breeze on the Seto Inland Sea, bring the sweetness of rest and the power to cheer up. More importantly, they have enabled the men to recover the spirit of Japanese culture that was distorted and lost in the war, this ancient and beautiful spirit, the source of strength. They restored the fever-stricken and chaotic mind to clarity and calmness, and brought the dying body back to life.
At this time when our country is moving towards rejuvenation, this film has great significance.