Recently, a group of elephants from Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, frequently appeared on hot searches.
The elephants suddenly made a long journey north, breaking the record for the longest migration of Chinese elephants.
No one knows why the elephants are going north or where they are going.
But this news has triggered a heated discussion among the media and netizens, and many people have become interested in elephants.
People love elephants not only because of their cute appearance, but also because they are one of the few creatures with high intelligence.
They have rich and delicate emotions, as well as family relationships similar to those of humans.
When we see this group of north drifting elephants sleeping, we also have to circle the baby elephant in the middle to protect it.
This kind of gentleness is so similar to human care for children.
This group of elephants who stumbled upon the human world reminded me of another story about elephants.
It was an elephant that was kept in a zoo by humans, named Hanako.
Its story has also been made into a movie, which is the one I want to recommend to you today.
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Director: Keita Kono
Writers: Toshio Terada
Starring: Takashi Sorimachi / Kazunori Kitamura / Masahiro Komoto
Release: 2007-08-04
This film about elephants is based on a true story.
Animal themes based on true stories are often tear-jerking, and this movie is no exception.
The two protagonists are also very interesting, namely "Spicy Teacher" Takashi Inomachi and Kazuki Kitamura.
They all play animal keepers in the film.
The elephant Hanako in the title is the longest-lived elephant in Japan.
Hanako was transported from Thailand to Japan in 1949 and was the first elephant to come to Japan from abroad after World War II.
At that time, it was still a cute baby elephant only 2 years old, and Hanako lived alone at inokashira Zoo for 66 years and was called "the loneliest elephant".
Its life is full of ups and downs and short-lived warmth.
And the name "Hanako" seems to have been cursed, and there is a shocking story behind it...
That was in 1941, after the outbreak of the Pacific War.
During the war, the Inokashira Zoo in Musashino City, Tokyo, was still open to the public.
The zoo's favorite visitors are the three elephants named John, Tangi and Hanako.
This "Hanako" is not the protagonist of the movie," Hanako, but another elephant before Hanako.
However, it was a time of war and material scarcity.
Keepers can only rummage through the garbage cans and find some leftovers and garbage to barely feed the animals.
Elephant keeper Ryohei Yoshioka (Takashi Inomachi) is tasked with collecting food and finding something for the various animals to satisfy.
However, the cruelty of the war soon spread to this group of poor animals.
Nishimura, the head of the park, gathered all the keepers together to convey the cruel instructions from their superiors.
All beasts of prey must be "disposed of".
The reason is that if there is an air raid, the beast will run to the street and hurt people.
The keepers, led by Yoshioka, could not bear to kill the animals with one hand, and they tried to persuade the garden not to poison the animals.
But the orders of their superiors could not be changed, and they decided to poison the animals with poison.
The animals were poisoned one after another, and watching the large animals fed by hand die in pain was also a cruel torture for the keepers.
Some animals do not immediately poison to death, and experience a long period of painful torture before dying.
In the end, it was up to people to end their lives.
Because the sound of gunfire will cause panic among the nearby people, they can only be killed in the most primitive way.
Lions die when they are stabbed in the heart by a bamboo fence by their keepers.
Breeders who have lived through this massacre may live in the shadows for the rest of their lives.
The animals in the zoo were poisoned one after another, and finally only elephants were left.
Elephants with high IQs refuse to eat food as if they knew it was poisonous.
Because of the elephant's hard skin, it is impossible to use the injection of poison needles.
In the end, the zoo had to resort to the most brutal measure: starving the elephants.
On August 29, 2018, John starved to death.
On September 4 of the same year, citizens held a memorial service for the animals.
It is also claimed that these animals sacrificed their lives for the country, what a famous reason for the slaughter.
But at this time, the elephant Hanako and Tang Ji were still struggling to support.
At the end of her life, Hanako also strives to make performances to please the keepers.
But because there was food and water after each performance.
Faced with hungry elephants, a grieving Yoshioka had to secretly feed them water.
The move was discovered by officials who came to inspect, and Yoshioka was harshly reprimanded.
On September 11, 2018, the elephant Hanako starved to death.
Then on September 23, Tang Ji also went with Hanako.
As their keeper, Yoshioka has since fallen into the abyss of grief and self-blame.
Two years later the war ended and the zoo was ready to be rebuilt.
As a country with a strong preference for elephants, children are most eager to see elephants.
A young boy even sent the money he earned from shining shoes on the street to the newspaper, hoping to buy elephants.
This dream soon came true, and Thailand presented Japan with a 2-year-old baby elephant as a symbol of peace.
Yoshioka was again commissioned to keep the baby elephant.
However, Yoshioka had not yet come out of the shadow of the starving elephant, and he was reluctant to take over the job.
He considered himself the one who killed the elephant, and approaching the animal again would only evoke painful memories.
But this little elephant seems to have a spiritual nature, very dependent on Yoshioka, and will drill out of the fence in the middle of the night to find Yoshioka to walk with it.
Perhaps the clever and helpless little elephant impressed Yoshioka, who perked up and resolved to raise it well.
He named the baby elephant "Hanako".
Not only to commemorate the dead Hanako, but also to make up for the guilt in my heart.
Yoshioka and new breeder Keisuke Takano raise Hanako with the utmost enthusiasm.
Yoshioka's doting love for Hanako is overflowing, not only never scolding Hanako, but also feeding Heriko as much food as possible.
Under their care, Hanako soon became a star in the zoo.
The children rushed to see Hanako.
In 1954, at the age of 7, Hanako was moved to the better-equipped Inokashira Natural Culture Park, but the keepers Yoshioka and Keisuke Takano did not follow.
After Hanako left, Yoshioka also left the zoo and left the country.
If it is already unfortunate to be in the zoo, then the loss of the keeper who loves her is the greater misfortune of the baby elephant Hanako.
Although it was also popular in Inokashira, Hanako gradually began to feel lonely.
It often stood there alone late at night, neither sleeping nor moving, like a statue.
Elephants are social animals, and in the face of sudden changes in the environment, Hanako is forced to live alone and becomes neurotic.
Just two years after Hanako came to Izumi, an accident occurred.
A drunk man stumbles into the beast pen in the middle of the night and is trampled to death by the frightened Hanako.
In 1960, there was another accident, and a breeder was killed by Hanako.
The second time a human life was caused, no one sympathized with Hanako anymore.
Hanako is therefore known as the "killer elephant".
Inokashira Zoo tied Hanako's limbs with iron training.
Since then, Hanako has never been visited again.
The keepers were reluctant to get close to Hanako, and its fence was so dirty that no one dared to go in and clean it.
The garden even considered killing it, and Hanako's tragedy was like a spell.
While the keepers were shirking their responsibilities to each other, Keisuke Takano, who had raised Hanako with Yoshioka, volunteered to come to Inoka to take care of Hanako.
Seeing Hanako so emaciated and completely closed her mind in front of humans, Takano hoped to open the door of Hanako's heart again.
He persuaded the garden to untie the chains on Hanako's feet.
Takano took great pains to bring Hanako out of the elephant house, but Hanako was scolded by tourists and stone-thrown.
Even Takano himself was wounded by the stones.
Seeing this scene, Takano was deeply shocked, and Takano began to painstakingly study countermeasures.
He recalls the breeding experience that Yoshioka taught him, spending more time guarding Hanako.
Finally, Hanako's mental state gradually improved.
Hanako, who was only 36 years old, lost only one tooth due to long-term depression.
Not being able to chew food almost means death for elephants.
Takano painstakingly chopped up all the food and kneaded it into balls.
Under Takano's careful care, Hanako gradually regained her health.
But in the blink of an eye, Takano had reached retirement age.
Over the years, he devoted all his efforts to Hanako, and his family alienated him.
After retirement, Takano wanted to give up his job and spend more time with his family.
Takano then died of cancer shortly after his retirement.
The people in this world who really cared about Hanako were once again gone.
After Takano's death, his son Yosuke, who was touched by his father, inherited his legacy and took on the task of caring for Hanako.
The film ends here, perhaps because I can't bear to continue filming.
If Hanako is accompanied by Yosuke from now on, it will be a kind of happiness.
Unfortunately, in reality, Hanako's life is too bumpy.
Takano in the movie, the real prototype is called Yamakawa Kiyozo.
In 1996, Yamakawa Koji, son of Yamakawa Kiyozo, was transferred to Inokashira Zoo to take care of Hanako.
He gains Hanako's trust, and zoo visitors can get up close and personal with Hanako, making Hanako an animal star again.
In 2004, Hiroharu Yamakawa was transferred back to Tama Zoo.
In 2006, Hiroji Yamakawa published Hanako, the Elephant Beloved by His Father, in which Hanako was called "the trickiest elephant in the world."
After changing breeders, Hanako becomes emotionally unstable again.
He tripped over the breeder with his nose and threw the female veterinarian out.
Because of these accidents, in 2011, the zoo decided to adopt indirect breeding.
Feed outside the gates to keep Hanako out of the house or let people into her stalls.
Because of the lack of companionship, Hanako becomes more withdrawn.
In 2013, Hanako turned 65 years old, becoming the oldest artificially bred elephant in Japanese history.
Since then, Hanako has been living alone in a cement house.
One tourist said Hanako was just standing there lifelessly, like a sculpture.
In 2015, hanako appeared on the Internet as she was lonely locked up in a cement stall, which attracted widespread attention from the international community.
British media said that Hanako is the loneliest elephant in the world.
450,000 people jointly requested that Hanako be sent to an elephant sanctuary abroad for the rest of their lives.
The Japanese garden refused on the grounds that Hanako was too old to move.
Just when Hanako had just received the world's attention, its life also came to an end.
On May 26, 2016, Hanako fell to the ground, and after some rescue, Hanako was declared dead.
The only relief is that Hanako is said to have died peacefully at the age of 69, not in pain before she died.
In "Elephant Hanako", two elephants named "Hanako" appeared.
The big "Hanako" was starved to death by the zoo because of the war, and the little "Hanako" was imprisoned in solitary confinement for decades and finally depressed.
The ending of both Hanako can be described as sad.
Hanako, 2 years old, is such a cute baby elephant.
The baby elephant of this age should have lived with its mother.
However, Hanako was sent across the ocean to a strange country and imprisoned in solitary confinement for people to play and have fun.
This has to be said to be a cruelty.
Although Hanako was lucky to meet several keepers who cared about it.
But in real life, how many animals are deprived of their liberty and abused, we don't know.
Elephants are extremely intelligent animals, and they have a wealth of feelings and memories.
Is it really gratifying that children come to the zoo with great interest to visit these lonely animals in captivity?
Vast wilderness and jungle are where they should live.
Give the elephant back to nature.
*This article is written by RAMA