I was Born But Movie Review

The film focuses on young siblings Ryoichi and Keiji

The film focuses on young siblings Ryoichi and Keiji, whose faith in their father is damaged by what they perceive as kowtowing. Additionally, the two boys’ family had moved from Tokyo to the unfinished suburbs while their father continued to work as a salary man. (Ozu n.p). The two boys outsmart the swaggering young Taro and his intimidating guardian as they compete to determine the neighborhood kids’ social standing. However, they embarrass themselves when they play a jester to Taro’s father, his employer. The movie mocks the hypocrisy of adult orders by using schoolboy politics. Also, the video is the blithe picture of the psychological and financial toils which can relate to the economic problems in the Japanese history.

Japan in the 1930s

Japan was affected by the 1929 stock trade crash as well as the ensuing global financial depression. People who depended on collar job such as the father of two boys in the film were highly affected since they became jobless. During the time of financial crisis, the surge of right-wing nationalism headed by the military was upending expansion of the Taisho democracy. Additionally, the cinema indicates social inequity that results to children who are in struggle. The film is rooted on the kids, learned social acceptance and behavior of compromise in the non-ideal surrounding (Ozu n.p). The boy’s negative attitude towards their dad turns from the rite of passage as the shift from the predictable and safe rules of home living to the illogical and unjust hierarchical communal customs of the actual world. The movement from Tokyo indicates regular shifts of Japanese families in 1930s when the suburbs were established at the furious pace by railway conglomerates.

Work Cited

Ozu, Yasujirō. I Was Born, But ... San Francisco, California, USA: Kanopy Streaming, 2014. Web. https://mubi.com/films/i-was-born-but