Bashing

Society turns against a woman who was kidnapped while doing volunteer work overseas. This is certainly plausible in Japan where cyberbullying and social ostracisation are gold-medal standard. However the execution of the concept is dire. The color pallet is a dull green and the resolution primitive. Shots are hand-held for reasons that can only be budgetary rather than aesthetic. The heroine is hated by everyone and hates everyone. People are fired on a whim. No one shows even a hint of compassion or kindness to anyone else. The heroine mopes about in one-note angst. The action is inauthentic - has anyone ever really, truly, ripped a phone out of a wall and thrown it out a window?

Interesting cast list. Apart from that, there is not one iota of cinematic merit here.

This is a story about isolation. A story about alienation and oppression. A story about power-distance. And a story about having your eyes opened to something they were kept shut to.

These are all the things Bashing is about. This is a gripping Slice of Life genre gem that few people have a hard time accepting, because few people have seen it. At its core is the truth about people, human nature, Japanese nature and mentality which has been studied about for years, but is only now taken a more serious shape where writers and directors are willing to sacrifice their ego and reputation to talk about it.

Often misinterpreted as being a story whose importance is placed on an event which happened before it started: a woman returning from Iraq. But, that has as much to do with what the story is about as why Hitchcock chose Plutonium instead of Nitrate, it's besides the point and has little relevance to the story and what it has to say. The spark which sets the flame could of been anything.

The director did a fantastic job in the choices he made. If this were shot any other way; if it looked plastic, if it looked too clean, if it had all the bells and whistles of a blockbuster film or a nonsensical plot based off a cartoon, it would be mess and an absolute travesty. The performances are beautiful, and all the pieces fit. The interest factor has longevity, and the story has real substance.

I cannot say enough about this film (or anymore without spoiling it). I haven't seen something that stayed with me as long as this did for quite some time. And I'm happy to have found it. It is a quintessential slice of life drama.

Few years ago there were abduction issues, Japanese woman held hostage in Iraq. This story wrote her circumstance in home town and what neighbors and friends did her after hostage.

In Japan we learn "Don't make waves" from earlier ages. Japanese tend to be equal to others, which means nobody like different act from others. This heroine went to prohibited country and engaged to nursing. When held hostage in Iraq, we, Japanese, hoped to come back Japan and Japanese government did their best. Finally she returned home. We were pleased to see her back. However we discussed in mass-media why she went to this kind of dangerous country in spite of governmental prohibition. If she were not in Iraq, there were no abduction issue. This discussion is close related to our mentality, "Don't make waves". Many people thought she was stranger and she made wave. So some people attacked her and her family.

I'm also Japanese and I understand this kind of image to her.

But we should know why she did these actions. And treat her based on understanding of her opinion.

At the movie she said. In Japan I was loser and nobody needed me. However in Iraq I was useful person and could support lots of people. Many children hugged her. This is a key to know her.

This film is based on the real story of a girl who is back at home in Japan after having taken hostage in Iraq, where she was gone to do charity work. Rather than being seen as a victim, she is considered as an embarrassment for the whole Japanese society and subject to hostility and threats. She is fired from her work, leaves her boyfriend who has turned against her and is harassed by anonymous phone calls and emails. Hostility even reaches her father. She cannot even find comfort with her family because of incommunicable. The film is realised with great sobriety, and remarkably played by Fusako Urabe. It is a good picture of the weight of conformism and rigidity of a society which can destroy individuals. This film was shown in competition in Cannes 2005.