Here is another film from Chris Marker about memory, this time the memory of a nation (Japan), the computer age (the Internet, called OWL in the film - Optional World Link) and relationships. It is about how humankind does not deal honestly with the past, which in turn forces us to be haunted by it forever. The only way out is honesty, confession and forgiving oneself, something Japanese have not been able to do.
The heart of the film is the battle of Okinawa where the inhabitants committed mass suicide. Parents would kill their children, then the husbands their wives and then finally themselves, all out of "love". There is an interview with a man who killed his brothers and sisters and his mother. This story (which is true) is so shocking, horrifying and heart wrecking that one wonders why it is not as well known as the concentration camps in Europe.
This is a very poetic film. I often wanted to stop the film just to write down the beautiful and thought provoking monologues. Another masterpiece from Chris Marker!
The heart of the film is the battle of Okinawa where the inhabitants committed mass suicide. Parents would kill their children, then the husbands their wives and then finally themselves, all out of "love". There is an interview with a man who killed his brothers and sisters and his mother. This story (which is true) is so shocking, horrifying and heart wrecking that one wonders why it is not as well known as the concentration camps in Europe.
This is a very poetic film. I often wanted to stop the film just to write down the beautiful and thought provoking monologues. Another masterpiece from Chris Marker!