Una lettera per Tezuo

Jûkichi Uno is a professor of education at a local university. He and his wife, Ranko Hanai have two boys. When they are stricken with polio and spinal paralysis, they encounter not just the hardship of dealing with crippled children, but the cruelty of other children. So they sell everything they own and open their own school, aided by others who have dealt with polio in their families.

Hiroshi Shimizu -- of whom Kenji Mizoguchi said "People like me and Ozu get films made by hard work, but Shimizu is a genius" -- was a major talent in Japanese films from 1924 through 1959. He directed almost 150 features in that time. Although in the 1930s, many of his movies were about the hard lives of women, he developed an interest in children and worked with refugees. There are some incidents repeated here from his earlier INTROSPECTION TOWER (a teacher, driven to anger, slaps a student).

Shimizu had a real talent for working with untrained children, and it shows here. His work is largely neglected these days. It shouldn't be.

Not knowing what I was going to see I started seeing this movie. Well I was surprised about the storyline with a professor and his wife deciding to make a school for polio children after their child says he want to make one when he grows up.

The story was very touching and all actors did well both grown ups and the many children. It was both a very heartwarming and sad movie.

If you like fast paced movies and lots of action then do stay away from this movie. If you are to a good and sweet drama then it may be up your alley. My only grief about this movie is the soundtrack. It is really bad. I several times felt like hitting the composer with a shovel or something. But all in all absolutely a movie I would recommend watching if you are not allergic to small sweet kids :-)