Asian cinema is limited to animated sci-fi epics, over-the-top HK action fare, and samurai hack-and-slash fests? Yes, it's easy to get this impression from the growing visibility of these kinds of movies but if you scour the foreign sections of your local video stores, you can snap up a serious dramatic gem that might otherwise be consigned to the dustbins of eternity (aka the personal home video collections of film school students). Masahiro Shinoda's 1984 movie MacArthur's Children is one such feature that deserves better.

The movie gives us a fleeting glimpse of life in a small fishing village on the Japanese island of Awaji-Shima immediately following the end of World War II. The atmosphere in town is somber as everyone welcomes surviving troops returning from the war and awaits the arrival of the American occupation force.

The local schoolchildren, in particular, are curious about "the Yankees". The rambunctious Saburo (Takaya Yamauchi) runs away from school and announces his intention to become a "gangster" in order to prevent the Americans from landing on the island. His more level-headed friend, 5th grade class leader Ryuta (Yoshiyuki Omori from Godzilla 2000 and Taboo), follows along and soon they have a small group of kids working together. They take turns standing watch on a nearby hill for American ships and spend time spreading gossip (one child tells the others that he hears that Yankees have penises "as big as beer bottles").

Mr. Hatano (Juzo Itami, late director of Tampopo), a captain in the Japanese Navy, arrives on the island soon after with his young daughter, Mume (Shiori Sakura). Captain Hatano asks to see the local police chief because of the possibility that he may be arrested for war crimes. While Ryuta explains that his grandfather, Mr. Ashigara (Shuji Otako), is a police officer, Saburo takes an immediate liking to Mume and vows to have his gang protect Mume and her father from the Yankees.

With the influx of new people in the village, Saburo and Ryuta's elementary schoolteacher, Komako (the famous Japanese actress Masako Natsume), has to turn her all boys class into a co-ed one. The upheaval in her classroom mirrors the disruption in Komako's personal life. Her husband Masao (pop star Hiromi Gô) was killed in the war, leaving her the only person left to help straighten out her brother-in-law Tetsuo, a drifter estranged from his family because of his drug use.

There's lots going on in MacArthur's Children but it never becomes convoluted and the characters never descend into cardboard cutouts, except for the character of Tome (played by director Shinoda's wife, Shima Iwash1ta). Gripe: The Epinions text censor won't allow me to spell her actual name!!! As an amorous barbershop owner, she seems to be there primarily for comic relief. The focus is never on her, though. This is a true ensemble film and the characters weave their way around much as they would in real life.

Each of the intertwining stories provides a different angle into the post-WWII experiences of rural Japanese. An understated theme is the gradual influence of American culture on Japan during this period of time. Some of the villagers start dressing American while the kids form their own baseball team. Scenes are occasionally punctuated by lively blasts of Glenn Miller's "In The Mood" to bring this point home.

If I had to pick out one scene I love (other than the bittersweet ending), it'd be the one where Ryuta is sitting outside his home at night, burning any pro-Japanese propaganda his family might have before the American soldiers arrive. He's forced to destroy his old drawings of planes and battleships even as his grandmother reads Ryuta letters from his deceased mother describing how she kept the drawings as mementos. Mume then comes along and tells Ryuta's family how a fisherman's urban legend saved her father from blowfish poisoning, ending the scene on a quirky note. Much of the film is like that, alternating between poignant and funny, which prevents the pace from slacking too much and keeps the viewer wondering what happens to these people next.

The idyllic fishing village shown in MacArthur's Children is the sort of place you'd like to live in. Everyone knows each other and, by the end of the film, you feel as if you know them, too. Shinoda creates a time capsule of this period in Japanese history so anyone can watch it and walk away with an understanding of life in that place and time. Simply a terrific film.



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older