Yûnagi no machi sakura no kuni (2007) User Reviews

Not bad, but could be worse.

[srkooijman · 7/10 · 21 October 2009]

Last year I was browsing through a store in Hiroshima and came across a manga called Yuunagi No Machi, Sakura no Kuni. I flipped through it and the story appealed to me. On the train ride home i read it and got my phone out for some additional info and found that this movie was made.

After seeing it I was first pleasantly surprised and then unpleasantly shocked.

While the first part stays pretty close to the written story, with excellent acting, good casting and a deep meaning and feeling (pro- Japan, anti-war etc) the second part was terrible. The book itself consists of three parts where "Town of Cherry Blossoms makes up 2 parts). The first part is mainly the "flashbacks" from the movie, playing baseball, giving her Nagio a cherry blossom shower etc. The second part is the "chase dad on his crazy hyjinx" part.

I found the second part of the movie quite bad, the casting was off, the acting was cheesy and the setting was odd (although accurate, having been there just a day earlier).

The 7 I gave this movie comes from a 9 for the first part, and a 5 from the second part.

I will not go in on the political message too much. I think it's fine, the comic book is even harsher, roughly translated they say "It's been 10 years. I wonder if the people who dropped the atomic bomb are pleased with themselves- Yes! Got another one!"

I think the movie raises a valid point about the American atrocities done to the Japanese people (hello Russia, this is Yankee doodle, look at what we got!).

As a final word, good movie, go get it. Buy the DVD and watch it.

Best Movie of decade

[pipilou · 10/10 · 26 August 2009]

"Yunagi no machi sakurano no kuni" is probably the best movie ever focused on Hiroshima and WWII tragedy. But it is too real and explicit for some American audiences—in another words, it is too offensive for them. Probably that is why I can't find the DVD with English subtitle. Because it is too offensive to the American public, it could cause a friction between two nations. The previous commentator has probably good intent, but he or she is too ignorant. Japan went to war because she could end up a colony where non-white people populate like the rest of Asia if she listened to US demand in the eve of WWII. So she made a choice to go to war to defend her sovereign and liberate the other Asian nations from the oppression of American and European colonists. But during her pass of the warfare and even before, the Japanese subjugated the Chinese and the Korean as the second class citizen while they sent lots of sympathy to the Jew and the Southeast Asians, including to Indians. This double standard caused tragedy and misunderstanding. Just like pro and con, Japan did right thing and also bad thing. We have been under the American's War Guilt information System—the US propaganda since the end of WWII. We have lots of "America Kabures"—Japanese blindly followers on US. Typically, the Japanese loves to talk about the US, but no other countries. Actually, they are afraid of US or very sensitive to what the US thinks about us. As a result, even in Hiroshima, although Americans are the ones dropped the Atomic Bomb, the survivors and the children of the survivors have never publicly condemned the US government or the American populace. It is hypocrisy. This movie clearly stated that those wished me to be dead and it took 13 years to kill me. It is obvious that those are the Americans. That is why this movie has significant impact on people who have good conscience. Again, this movie is made extremely well. I highly encourage you to distribute this movie DVD with English subtitle.

Politically inappropriate film.

[ethSin · 1/10 · 13 April 2008]

This film had an abnormally high user ratings in Yahoo! Japan Movies, but I was disgusted by it after watching. The movie is divided into two parts. First half is "Yuunagi no Machi" ("Town of Evening Calm"), about a family of nuclear bombing survivors in Hiroshima, 13 years after the bombing. The second part, "Sakura no Kuni" ("Land of Cherry Blossoms") is set in present day Japan, where descendants of the family trace back to the past.

The first half presents a nice atmosphere and a touching story about Minami, a female survivor still trying to cope with the death of her sister in the bombing. Asou Kumiko was phenomenal as Minami, the female surviver. Her control of emotion was right on, and her acting was very convincing. The second half though, is nothing short of a disaster, where it turned into a cheesy game of tag between a father and a daughter. I was quite surprised at how the 3 main characters were all actors I disliked; Tanaka Rena, Nakagoshi Noriko, and Sakai Masaaki. Nakagoshi was actually alright in this film, but the other two were absolutely horrible as usual and completely out of place. Change in atmosphere and style were far too abrupt, which contributed to the horrible flow of story in this film. In addition, corny lines like "I chose to be born into this family" was not exactly what I expected from a movie with such a serious theme.

What really bothers me is how this film feels like a post-war propaganda that places Japan solely as the victim of evil with lines like "Bombs didn't just drop, it was dropped by someone", and "I wonder if the people who wanted us to die are happy now I'm dying, even though it took 13 years" etc.

Yes, hundreds of thousands of people were dead/permanently affected by the two nukes, and that's an event that should never be forgotten. But is this director really trying to convince us that Japan was a victim in WWII? It just completely ignores their own atrocity in WWII as invaders of rest of Asia, as well as the cause of the bombing. Those nukes were dropped because Japan refused to end a losing war with the whole 'Samurai honor' and divine right where they would rather die (i.e. kamikaze) rather than surrender. The bombings, though horrible, were necessary to save MORE lives from lost. This may be a cruel way of putting it, but it was brought on by themselves.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with mourning for the numerous dead and criticizing America for the damage they've caused, but this kind of "we're innocent victims" movies just sends out the wrong message. Just imagine what a young or uneducated person would feel about the bombing after seeing a film like this. Japan still making films like this is exactly the reason why so many people in rest of Asia STILL have deep hatred toward the Japanese, while Germans have made peace with pretty much rest of the world by focusing blame and admitting mistake.

I personally love the Japanese culture, and I know a lot of nice, kind Japanese people. But movies with this kind of message is simply wrong, and for their sake, I hope there will never be another film like this made again.