In 1868, after the fall of the Shogun-dominated Japan, the new government orders people from Awaji, near Kobe, to re-locate to the northern part of Hokkaido. These people once supported the now displaced Samurais of the older days. After two years, over 500 of them settled in their new land under the leadership of Hideaki, husband of Shino. However, as crops fail he is to go to Sapporo to learn new techniques of farming, leaving his wife and daughter for 5 years. All this time, the new community is constantly watched by the government which choose to again uproot them from their new homes.
Reviews
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.
This finely-etched social portrait details the first wave of colonists who chose to settle into the hardy world of Hokkaido in Meiji, Japan in the 1870s. The first group must transplant themselves into a rustic, untamed wilderness where most characters' loyalty and physical limits are tested; it's a richly forested land that still has a population of hardy creatures like wild bears. Ken Watanabe's character has second thoughts, however, with a land that cannot equal the lushness of his native Awaji. The story is told deliberately and, at times, slowly, but one gets a good sense of the rustic conditions under which the common folk must try to survive. Travail teaches many to suspend notions of "class" in the hopes of building a new world from scratch. Watchable for its fine production and photography - and less for the ordinary simple writing.
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