FINDING AUTHENTIC EXISTENCE IN THE FARM

by Wilhelmina S. Orozco



                                                     
What can we learn from a film? Why do we like watching films? The medium is a good vehicle for our understanding our neighbors and the world in general. In the current Eiga Sai Japanese Film Festival here in MetroManila, the film Homeland opens the eyes of the viewers to the realities of how the Japanese people have responded to the sufferings from so-called modern life in a Japanese town beset by botched use of nuclear power.

Homeland is about the subject family that transfers to temporary housing when Fukushima was declared dangerous to be inhabited. In a cramped space, Tomiko (Tanaka Yuko) - the mother, Soichi --the half-son (Uchino Seiyo) , Misa - the wife (Ando Sakura) and Naho (unnamed in the program)- the child live together, watching TV, eating, sleeping and dreaming. It must have been a real shock to find that their town could no longer be what it used to be, a place that nurtured their farming skills and made them live off it. The event especially shocks the mother, who cannot forget her tending the farm, as that was the alternative life offered her by her husband after they met in an entertainment town.

Yet, some people could still dream of returning to their roots, and that was the younger son, Jiro (Matsuyama Kenichi). He experiments on growing rice, first on boxes, and he was successful. But half-brother tried to thwart his dream, thinking that because the soil was contaminated, growing the rice could be dangerous. (That is the question that came to my mind also. How could people eat rice that comes from contaminated soil? Won't they develop unusual diseases if they would do so?)

I like Homeland for its quiet depiction of the Japanese people. It makes me understand my own countryfolks – as I somewhat contrasted them with the way we lead our life. The Japanese people, as exemplified in the film have not lost their original roots – their love of their land, the title itself is a revelation. Homeland is not Tokyo – the skyscraping city - but Fukushima – the greenland with fresh bird-chirping air and vast panorama of trees and mountains. That seems to be the message of the author- Aoki Kenji and director – Kubota Nao.

The Japanese are also a spiritual people, having a small altar in their home where they ring a bell before praying. On the altar can be found a picture of their ancestor or older relative to whom they pray for guidance in their present life. They also gather together to grieve over a relative, no matter if he committed suicide due to depression over what had happened to their town. Most of all, the love for the elderly, the mother, and the child are there; they are taken care of as it is the most natural thing to be done – especially the child and not to send her off to beg in the streets due to poverty. The elderly is nurtured – the onset of senility is arrested by bringing her back to Fukushima and there she finds herself again.

What struck me was the way the family removed their shoes when they entered the home of the dead. It was automatic for the characters to do so and so natural that the home should be treated with respect, that the dirt from outside should be left there and not allowed to contaminate the home.

Also, what was particularly touching was when the two men, Soichi and another man, cried over the suicide of Naboko, a half brother. No, the film showed their vulnerable side without too much fanfare. It was and is natural for men to shed tears. Kubota Nao, the director and tv docmentary veteran surely knows the issues besetting the cinema world like its usual depiction of male characters as invincible, and “unfeminine.” To cry is to be effeminate in the old view of filmmaking and men are not that way at all in this film. 

What about  sex life? I cannot help but rue that the wife, Misa could suffer from a husband who appears just very eager to finish off even if she is already being ungently handled. No, there were no bare bodies and sex organs in full regalia. The two, Soichi and Misa were fully-clothed, only their upper bodies on screen and the gyrations of Soichi to hint that intercourse was taking place. Of course, they would not be that free to express themselves physically in a very cramped setting, the temporary housing subdivision for those who were unsettled by the nuclear disaster.

Maybe I missed it but the people of Fukushima probably are living off on a survival allowance provided by the government. Japan is very rich and it is highly implausible that the victims should be made to fend for themselves after the nuclear disaster. This could also be one reason why the family do not lose their cohesion and are still able to care for each other. That could be an example of how we could deal also with our own natural-disaster victims in the Visayas.

What can we still learn as a people here? Our life is being taken over too much by outside influences that we seem to forget our own roots. In metroManila competition, domination, and a desire for upmanshipJ exist all desired by many to acquire wealth and status. Practicing religion is mechanical – praying and kneeling without any deep meditation of how we exist, why and where do we go after life. There is dropping of the name of Jesus, but it seems to be mechanically done. All these do not seem to be the valuable way to authentic existence.

The film lightly touches on the politics as it showed how politicians try to campaign to attain leadership -- through bandwagon. 

Although Japan is always known as Tokyo to us, neighbors, the busy city with its youth in colorful hair and outlandish attire, still the film insists that there is another side to Japanese life, the rural life that is worth caring for and protecting. Or may be that which is the authentic setting, for nurturing one's human side where the young and the older groups can meet to lead a humane existence.

Eiga Sai, the Japanese Film Festival, through Homeland shows how the medium can bring different cultures together to understand how each one lives and possibly create a peaceful world in the end.