Annyeong, Sayonara
January. 01,2005
This joint Korean-Japanese production follows a Korean woman, Lee Ha-jong, as she searches for her father's remains. He - like tens of thousands of other Koreans - was forced into the Japanese military, and subsequently killed during WW2. She is joined by a Japanese man, seeking reconciliation between his country's military past, and the countries victimized by that history. The filmmakers portray both sides of a still highly emotional debate that centers around the enshrinement of soldiers at the Yasukuni Shrine, and Lee's lawsuit to prevent her father from being enshrined there. As Lee visits Japan and the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, she confronts - and is confronted by a wall of nationalistic pride that might be compared to neo-Nazis defending the righteousness of The Reich. This is contrasted with her meeting and working with Japanese peace activists, who deplore their countries' militaristic past, and seek to heal the wounds with her neighbors.
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Reviews
To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
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