Movies - Rhapsody in August

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	Movies - Rhapsody in August

Rhapsody in August (八月の狂詩曲 Hachigatsu no kyôshikyoku) is a 1991 film by Akira Kurosawa. The story centers on an elderly hibakusha, who lost her husband in the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki, caring for her four grandchildren over the summer. She learns of a long-lost brother, Suzujiro, living in Hawaii who wants her to visit him before he dies. American film star Richard Gere appears as Suzujiro's son Clark.

Plot

At its heart Rhapsody in August is a tale of three generations and their responses to the atomic bombing of Japan. The main character is Kane, an elderly woman whose husband was killed in the bombing of Nagasaki. Next, though they only play supporting roles, come her two children and their spouses, all of whom grew up in postwar Japan, as well as their Nisei cousin Clark (played by Richard Gere) who grew up in America. Finally, there are Kane's four grandchildren, who were born after the Japanese economic miracle and provide most of the dialogue in the film.

The plot is relatively simple. Kane's grandchildren come to visit her at her rural home on Kyushu one summer while their parents visit a man who may or may not be Kane's brother in Hawaii. Like most children, they are bored out of their minds, find her cooking to be disgusting, and escape to the urban environment of Nagasaki the first chance they get. While in Nagasaki the children visit the spot where their grandfather was killed in 1945 and become aware of the atomic bombing for the first time in their lives (though they undoubtedly knew about it from school, it was probably just another event in the distant past that they had to know for exams). They slowly come to have more respect for their grandmother and also grow to hate the United States for dropping the Bomb. This all occurs against a backdrop of the looming anniversary of the bombing.

In the meantime they receive a telegram from their American cousins, who turn out to be rich and offer the parents a job managing their pineapple fields in Hawaii. Matters are complicated when, in their response, the grandchildren mention the attack, which infuriates their parents. To smooth things over, one of the Japanese-Americans (Clark) travels to Japan to be with Kane for the anniversary. While there, Kane and the grandchildren reconcile with Clark over the bombing.

Reception

Rhapsody in August received less than favorable reviews on its release in 1991 and has been generally regarded as one of Kurosawa's lesser works (Though many still consider the film an impressive piece of cinema).

Most of the controversy centered on the film's depiction of the atomic bombing as a war crime while omitting details of Japanese war crimes in the Pacific War. When Rhapsody premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, one journalist cried out at a press conference, "Why was the bomb dropped in the first place?" At the Tokyo Film Festival, critics of Japanese militarism said Kurosawa had ignored the historical facts leading up to the bomb. Japanese cultural critic Inuhiko Yomota commented:

"Many critics, myself included, thought Kurosawa chauvinistic in his portrayal of the Japanese as victims of the war, while ignoring the brutal actions of the Japanese and whitewashing them with cheap humanist sentiment."

Many Americans also disliked the apologetic Clark; it didn't help that Rhapsody hit American theaters during a particularly severe period of anti-Japanese jingoism in the United States, as well as during the fiftieth anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Kurosawa's response was that wars are between governments, not people, and denied any anti-American agenda.

Some critics also said many of the characters, particularly the grandchildren, were one-dimensional.

Cast

Sachiko Murase as Kane (The Grandmother)
Hisashi Igawa as Tadao (Kane's Son)
Narumi Kayashima as Machiko (Tadao's Wife)
Tomoko Otakara as Tami (Tadao's Daughter)
Mitsunori Isaki as Shinjiro (Tadao's Son)
Toshie Negishi as Yoshie (Kane's Daughter)
Hidetaka Yoshioka as Tateo (Yoshie's Son)
Choichiro Kawarazaki as Noboru (Yoshie's Husband)
Mieko Suzuki as Minako (Yoshie's Daughter)
Richard Gere as Clark

Controversy

From Stephen Prince, The Warrior's Camera, pp. 320-321.

Two aspects of the film were especially inflammatory. One occurs during the extended scene in which the grandchildren visit the Nagasaki memorials to the bombing victims. . .A montage shows the memorials contributed by other nations, and a substantial number of these are from former Eastern Bloc and communist countries: Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, China, Cuba and the Former USSR. Shinichiro, the youngest grandchild, points out that there is no memorial from the United States, and his elder sister, Tami, replies, "Of course not, they're the ones who dropped the bombs." The political evasions here are quite severe. . .
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