"Thank You, Find Me in the Corner of the World" (この世界のKatama に, 2016) by Suzuo Katabuchi does not respond positively to the history of Japanese aggression in World War II, but focuses on the civilians engaged in production and life in Japan, far from the battlefield, in the rear people. In the first half, the bland and delicate scenes of life are in stark contrast to the daily tension and refuge in wartime. In terms of language, the director uses a lighthearted and humorous tone to replace the seriousness and dullness of the same type of works, telling a young married woman who was suffering during the war. Sweet daily notes.
The whole film is based on the words and deeds of ordinary people. Therefore, except for Suwon-kun, the primary school crush of the heroine Ling, almost all the main characters who appear on the stage have an ambiguous position on the war. The director deliberately downplayed the political war. I tried to faithfully present a group portrait of hard-working women who had nothing to do with wars in that precarious and difficult time, and committed themselves to the lower classes of society, trying to maintain family harmony.
However, this way of always putting the Japanese people on the stage as victims of war for future generations to grieve no matter when and where I despise it. "In war, civilians are always victims" is undoubtedly an important message in the second half of the film. The loudspeaker beeps again and again, and every family hurriedly flees into the dug air-raid shelter, waiting for the end of the air raid. , and even the city scene of Hiroshima, which was in decline and collapse after the atomic bomb was dropped, can effectively convey the ideological core of anti-war.
Unfortunately, at the end, it is not difficult to find that the director still lacks an attitude of self-reflection, and the so-called anti-war only superficially does not consciously discuss and reflect on the destruction of innocent civilians by the war from the perspective of "Japan is the initiator". The Japanese soldiers in the film are harmless to humans and animals, and it seems that they are forced to join the army by the current situation (the fate of no choice). In the end, unfortunately, she was killed by a stray bullet that suddenly exploded after the air raid. Because of Harumi's death, Suzu fell into self-blame and also had a distorted understanding of the war.
The heroine Ling, who is optimistic and fanciful, is also married to a military family. The camera does not explain any symbolic objects in the family that worship the emperor. This "de-emperorization" treatment makes the main narrative of the film return to the people. At the same time, it also obliterated the last possibility of the Japanese making a profound reflection on waging war. When Emperor Hirohito orally ordered "The Book of the End of the War", Ling was so excited that she burst into tears and said, "Why don't you continue fighting, why don't you continue to fight against violence", the director's ideological limitations have been fully exposed. Ask the power of war to vanish in an instant, not to mention how Suzu imagined the scene of bombers fighting in the sky into a colorful oil painting. (There is a suspicion of romanticizing war)
It is understandable that people who do not know the truth have misunderstood the war, but isn't the director making the film to try his best to correct this wrong historical concept through images and to relieve the audience's doubts? As Miyazaki's beloved disciple, Katabuchi may lack the courage to self-reflect for the defeated country, which was riddled with misdeeds in the past.
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