A Vida Tranquila

Japanese filmmakers have a gift for translating the tenets of humanist thought onto celluloid. Akira Kurosawa created several such masterpieces, from Ikiru to the triumphant Red Beard; Shunji Iwai contributed the wacky but thought-provoking Swallowtail; Juzo Itami gave us Daibyonin (The Last Dance) and this little treasure.

Iiyo is regarded as one of society's unfortunates, a "retard" as one schoolgirl exclaims, but he has a lovely, even enviable world view, one which, admittedly, the people closest to him are slow to pick up on. In fact, the "normal" folks in this film seem almost neurotic, as they manufacture complex and troublesome meanings and motives to explain Iiyo's behavior.

Long ago, a college professor advised me and 499 classmates to try to experience the world through the eyes of a severely handicapped person. He promised that it would be a most rewarding exercise. Juzo Itami captured this sentiment on film in a beautiful and thoughtful way.

This movie is based on the novel written by novelist Kenzo Ooe in 1990 about his family. His brother in law Jyuzo Itami turned it into a movie in 1995.

This movie is arranged so that it's seen from the eyes of Ooe's daughter Maa-chan (Hinako Saeki) about her mentally retarded brother Iiyo (Tokuro Watabe). It's also one of the very few movie that director Itami made that wasn't starred by Nobuko Miyamoto. Miyamoto takes the supporting role as the wife of Mr. Dando.

Iiyo was the first born of Ooe's family. But he was mentally handicapped from birth. Iiyo grew up in a cultural family, and heard many records containing music, and call of birds. One day when Ooe and his family was traveling to forests of Nagano, he hears Iiyo accurately naming the name of the bird that made the call. Iiyo never spoke a word up to that point. Iiyo's mental development continued from that day forward to the point where he can compose his own song. With the support of Maa-chan, Iiyo continues to develop his ability.

This is a story that shows great love of the family to each other, and also shows how indebted we are for our personal growth from the members of our family.

This movie shows the beauty of life from perspective of sister and brother. You need to see it to see how beautiful life is when there is love.