Message from awilloughby

[Anonymous]

I saw this film fairly "cold," meaning I didn't know what it was about before seeing it. I enjoyed it, although the more I thought about it afterward, the more I liked it.
I think it is a good fillm to present to high school students, as there are important issues for discussion. The story crosses two cultures-Japanese and Chinese, and perhaps the most important theme was how the lack of communication, for whatever reason, creates distances between people. the lack of contact between Mr. Takata and his son Kenichi appeared to stem from Mr. Takata's hurting him deeply when Kenichi was young (but I never figured out what that was). The communication gap not only covers the language gap betwen Japanese and Chinese, but the cultural gap as with Mr. Takata, so stoic, and even evidenced with the opera singer's son who displayed so little emotion. Even the male interpretter--he didn't understand Japanese enough to translate but denied it to the Chinese when accused (of not knowing Japanese) or glossed over it. Gee, the only normal person was the woman. Ha! Some of the questions to ask students after the film: What did Mr. Takata envy in the opera singer and why (what did the opera singer do openly that Mr. Takata could not?). Why do you suppose Mr. Takata made such an effort to find the opera singer's son? What purpose did this mission serve? The title of the opera, "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles," has great significance in the lives of Mr. Takata and Kenichi. How? What attitude(s) did Mr. Takata display toward the Chinese that helped him achieve his goals? Mr. Takata and the opera singer's son seemed to have made an emotional connection. What do you think caused this? the mask i the opera is an important symbol. How? Before showing the film, I would encourage students to look for examples of the communication theme and take notes. I would need to see the film again to explore more issues and analyze this further. There's lots more to discuss. The movie moved me (I cried several times), especially when Kenichi made the realization that his father was taking a step toward reaching out to him even when Kenichi rejected his father's visit (although I wondered if Kenichi's sister had fabricated the letter to make her father feel some comfort, but in the end, I believed the letter was Kenichi's words). When Mr. Takata was leaving the village of the opera singer's son, the son chased after the car and Mr. Takata continued waving until he could no longer see the boy. Oi vey. That was sad, too. On the other hand, I don't know if I could show the film to students because I would cry, again. I'm a wimp. I saw that someone reviewed "The Joy Luck Club." That was another movie that made me cry buckets (at the theatre, even, how embarrassing). My family has a running joke about me with sad movies. "How many boxes of tissue is that movie? It's a 2-1/2 box movie." Okay. So I won't show the movie to a high school class.
aileen willoughby