Hachiko - Wahre Freundschaft währt ewig

Last year I was reading a two pages article about Hachiko in a local magazine,and the movie called a lot my attention but I never managed to get the film. However, last night a friend of mine gave me the film... And I loved it from the first to last minutes. Believe me, I have been a film lover since lots of years, but I can tell you that no other movie makes me cry as Hachiko did. I had never cried so much for a movie since "Life is Beautiful" and "The grave of the Fireflies". Just to think about an Akita Inu dog that has been waiting for his dead master for 10 years; its sad just to imagine it, and more when you know that its based on a TRUE story. Believe me that Hachiko is like no other dog-film you have ever seen, its completely beyond every dog movie ever created. The acting was great, the dog who acted as Hachiko was perfect,the ambientation was excellent, the soundtrack is very touchy and accords with the emotional nature of the film. Sorry, I really don't have words to describe it, Its a beautiful film that can touch everybodies heart and I personally think that only a no hearted bastard would not cry watching this film, just my opinion. Its very hard to get, but if you manage to get it, you wont be disappointed, trust me... Hachiko will show the meaning of loyalty.

While humans are weird on these things, dogs are companions for life. Dogs show eternal loyalty for the simplest things. Giving them food and water is enough for them to stay loyal forever, but if that includes love and attention that loyalty is taken to another degree. It is true that dogs CAN and DO chose their own masters and they are loyal to one person. It seems that, for them, life has no meaning if it's not with their first owner.

This film is very, very moving and sad, like no other I've ever seen. It tells the (real) story of Hachi, the dog that waited 10 long years for his owner after his death. Hachi kept waiting for him for the rest of his life and only didn't wait more because he died. Besides that hard reality, that dog was a victim of violence, went through a lot of pain, sorrow and even illness. It's already very depressing to imagine what the real Hachi went through and seeing what we see in this movie is so heartbreaking. It breaks my heart how much he waits for a master that won't be back anymore, the cruelty of humans towards innocent animals, the bad condition and fragile health he is after years.

The movie itself is far from being great, let alone a masterpiece. But it's unquestionably a valuable lesson about the loyalty of dogs in the highest sense and it shows that dog is definitely man's best friend, a companion for life in the good and bad moments, everything.

There are many hateful human characters and this movie is so depressing and painful that I can't even watch it anymore and I couldn't help but cry hard. Having that said, it's impossible not to love Hachi and our hearts melt over him.

This movie had an American remake with Richard Gere but it's very different. The original is a far more realistic approach to the real story, as it takes place in Japan in the 1920's/1930's - which is the place and time when this story really happened.

I seldom post reviews online but this is one movie that I feel compelled to. This is my favorite movie of all times without a doubt. I have watched Hachiko close to 10 times now and every single time my tears would start flowing uncontrollably without fail. Each time I thought to myself, yeah I have watched it before so I wont cry again but each time I still could not stop my tears. A lot has been written on the story so I wont repeat all that. Just want to add that this is a true story and the newspaper reporter at the end of the movie did actually exist, writing up an article on Hachiko in the Japanese newspapers then. They did erect a statue of Hachiko at the very station but it was melted down during World War 2 for military usage. The Japanese later erected another statue in replacement after the war and today if you visit Japan, be sure to visit Hachiko's statue in Tokyo. And Hachiko's body has been preserved after his death and remains to this day on display in the Tokyo Museum of Nature and Science. I am going to make a trip one day to visit Hachiko. :)

Last night I watched a DVD called Hachi-ko....

I cried so many times in the movie and I loved the background aspects of the Japanese life of the time, as well.

I felt moved to seek further information and found this.............

found at http://smt.blogs.com/mari_diary/2005/04/a_royal_dog_in_.html

.............I will tell about Hachiko today. Hachi was born in Akita pref. in 1923. Because of his bent ears, people sometimes get wrong impression that he was a mixed dog, but he was a purebred Akita dog. His owner was a professor of Tokyo university. His house was big and located around area where Tokyu department store is now. He already had a pointer dog named John and another dog S when Hachi came to live his house. John, S and Hachi went to Shibuya station evade to see their owner off in the morning and were there every evening meet him. It seemed the happiest days for dogs. Unfortunately the owner died one year later and his wife and dogs had to leave home to make ends meet. The dogs were taken to different homes with different owners. Mr. Saito who was a member of the Japanese dog Preservation Association, saw Hachiko sometimes and he remembered him as a faithful dog. By the time he discovered poor Hachiko in Shibuya Station, he was already sad shape, dirty pitiful but still waiting for his ex owner. Mr.Saito detailed Hachiko's plight in the newspaper and suddenly Hachiko had became a famous dog in Japan. While he was still alive, his statue was erected and his story was told in primary school textbook. Ha ha Hachiko's tale itself was a pretty good, loyal dog story. But some people's reaction to Hachiko seems a little bit over-the-top actually. Anyway like I wrote in eddoko topic, my grand mom met Hachiko in her school days. Yeah, she said it was a dirty dog. :-). First Hachiko statue was melted once during ww2 to make armaments. The 2nd Hachiko in Shibuya station was recast again after ww2. Ah you can meet real Hachiko in the National Science museum with another famous dog Taro and Jiro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LakIEfEOQSE

and the above clip showing a Spanish person traveling the steps of Hachi to the statue.

I watched this movie after seeing the American version (Hatchi: A Dogs Tale) with Richard Gere, as a dog owner it left a mark and I felt compelled to follow up on both films to see the true story.

I managed to find a book on Hatchi - The Truth of the Life and Legend of the Most Famous Dog in Japan by Mayumi Itoh. This book was just as compelling as the film and set out to confirm the facts from the fiction with amazing detail.

Hachiko Monogatari is the version closer to the true tale in most ways and you know the ending is going to be painful to watch but you watch it to the end anyway. This film also peeks into the culture at the time in Japan. If this film does not pull at your heart strings then nothing will.