Shônenki (1951)

Shônenki: Directed by Keisuke Kinoshita. With Akiko Tamura, Akira Ishihama, Chishû Ryû, Rentarô Mikuni. When a family has to relocate due to the war, they are ostracized by their new community.

“This is an interesting drama made just a few years after the end of World War II that looked at the toll the war effort took on some civilians, specifically this one family from Tokyo that evacuated out to the countryside during the last year of the war. The father is a professor and a pacifist whose liberal sympathies end up costing him his job. Icharo, the oldest of the three sons, is caught between his love for his father and his desire to fit in at his new school, which is becoming increasingly militaristic as the war gets worse for Japan. The movie is beautifully shot and has an elegiac tone. I particularly liked the soundtrack which featured lots of propagandistic songs which were used to ironically comment on the hardships suffered by the characters.”