Director: Ichikawa Kon
Script: Wada Natto adapted from Takeyama Michio's novel
Cinematographer: Yokoyama Minoru
Music: Ifukube Akira
Cast: Mikuni Rentaro, Yasui Shôji, Hamamura Jun, Naitô Taketoshi, Kasuga Shunji, Nishimura Kô
Production: Nikkatsu
Distribution:
Carlotta Films
9 Passade de la Boule Blanche
75012 Paris
France
Tel: 0033 1.42.24.10.86
Fax: 0033 1.42.24.16.78
Mail: [email protected]
www.carlottafilms.com
Year: 1956
35 mm, B & W, 116 min,
OV Japanese with French Subtitles
San Giorgio Award - Venise Film Festival 1956
A regiment from the Japanese imperial army is put to rout in the middle of the Burmese jungle a few days after the end of Second World War. Among the soldiers, harp player Mizushima cheers up the men and guides them with his instrument. While the regiment stops in a village, the men are surrounded by the British troops. To avoid a massacre, Captain Inoue orders his men to sing to inform the troops of their pacifism. The Japanese soldiers hence can surrender without violence. Mizushima is then given the responsibility to convince a resistance group hiding in the mountains to surrender to the British. The operation fails and the harp player is left for dead. Several days later, while his companions are concerned by Mizushima’s fate, they pass a Burmese monk strangely looking like him…
This is a pacifist deeply moving story by one of the masters of Japanese Cinema.
