Wow

That is an awesome film!

How amazing is that girl’s performance?

My question is how accurate is the film. Do they really treat people who volunteer in Iraq like that or just those who are kidnapped?.
The reason i ask is that I recently read a book called “What is the what” about a Sudanese refugee in the States.
In it he recounts his days at a refugee camp and talks about how there were a lot of Japanese aid workers and that the Japanese were basically in love with helping those who need it on the Continent.

The movie seems kind of at odds with this.

Kenny, basically the ones who were kidnapped. I believe the entire world followed the case of the kidnapped japanese missionaries. Part of the japanese population saw everything as just a humiliation Japan had to face because of immature and irresponsible “wanna be heroes.” But, this is the countryside! It doesn’t mean you will see this kind of behavior being generalized in Tokyo, this is the kind of countryside bubble you can find pretty much in every country in world. Obviously the kind of “individuality” each place will see as disturbing or unwanted will vary from country to country.

Anyway, that is the way i see it.

Luiz, thanks for the info.

i had forgotten about that case.

I really liked her speech at the end. it sort of felt like a critique of Japanese society.

With only a limited festival exhibition and no European DVD release, Masahiro Kobayashi’s simple, beautiful and compelling study of cultural idiosyncrasies in regional Japan is available for download following some inspired Auteurs promotion. Bashing represents one very powerful strand of the cinema of tomorrow. It offers a perfect model of a small film made on a low budget enjoying a slow burning exchange and reaching a global niche audience through home cinema. The current technological revolution finally means the prospect of compelling local dramas made on modest budgets going straight into the homes of a truly international audience and appearing right across the wall of their largest room…if you don’t already have a good projector come up to heaven, it’s lovely up here.

[PAL compatible versions are available through Asian disties/resellers if you’re prepared to pay way above recommended retail. And of course there are the US Region 1 copies for those with multi region players.]