Our Homeland

Our Homeland is not the opener of this edition for nothing: it was the Japanese entry for the Oscar for Foreign Film. A rock-solid, rock-solid Japanese drama… with a Korean director.

The fact that this particular film became the best Japanese film of the year is indicative of the growing openness of 21st century cinema in Japan.

On the other hand, it is a film that could only have been made by a Korean: director Yang Yong-hi processes her own life story as a non-Japanese in Japan in this debut.

Central to this sublimely directed and intensely performed drama is the battle of ideas between capitalist Japan and totalitarian North Korea, both personified by a sister and a brother. One was born and raised in free Japan, the other was sent to the ‘promised land’ of North Korea as a teenager by his father to realise the communist dream. When, after 25 years, he is exceptionally given permission to travel to Japan for medical reasons, the family is confronted with long-unprocessed feelings.

Thanks in part to the wonderfully raw acting performances of the entire cast, we learn how crushing the weight of history can be on people of flesh and blood. Scene after scene, however, the protective layers of the characters fall away, just as propaganda disappears into nothingness when tears flow.

Award:

• C.I.C.A.E. Award op Internationaal Film Festival van Berlijn 2012

All images: © 2012 “Our Homeland”