Castle of Sand 砂の器
"The Last Samurai" being an American action drama film, I don't recall seeing a Japanese film at all, but I saw the subject film a few days ago.
Perhaps I have intentionally avoided Japanese films (if not Japanese culture as a whole). Seriously, it might sound like a joke but it was only when the curtain was about to come down on my life that I saw a Japanese film.
I don't think I would have seen "Castle of Sand" if I hadn't come across the following article in note:
Needless to say, I'm highly grateful to すなきす様, author of the above article on screening schedule and publisher of the book "Castle of Sand and Kisuki Line" (『砂の器』と木次線):
Honestly speaking, the keyword of Kisuki Line (木次線), a local railway line which connects Bingo-Ochiai (備後落合) in Hiroshima Prefecture and Shinji (宍道) in Shimane Prefecture, is attributed to my encounter with the series of articles on "Castle of Sand and Kisuki Line". Back in March 1972, when I was 14 years old, I travelled to Ogōri (小郡, now Shin-Yamaguchi) by an overnight express, took a short trip to Akiyoshidō Cave (秋芳洞), and then my original plan was to take an overnight express from Hiroshima to Matsue via Geibi Line (芸備線) and Kisuki Line. However, I felt so exhausted, and cancelled the express "Chidori" and took another overnight express "Dejima" to Kyōtō, and then returned to Tōkyō by taking several local trains. 36 years later, in 2008, I finally had the opportunity to take Kisuki Line👍 However, Kamedake (亀嵩) was out of my interest, instead I found the switchback station of Izumo Sakane (出雲坂根) as well as the unstaffed remote junction Bingo-Ochiai so exciting. The future of Kisuki Line, however, is doomed, but that is another story…
Well, I will refrain from writing my impressions on this film here except for one adjective - heartbreaking.
Wait. One comment: Criticizing this film as the preservation or reproduction of “discrimination and prejudice against leprosy” is no different from pretending that discrimination has never existed.
Credit for the header image : Eye Filmmuseum
P.S. In either 1968 or 1969 when I was 10 or 11 years old, my late mother made me leave school early to take me to see the 1959 American religious epic “Ben-Hur", in which I learned the particular disease. And the scene of the miraculous convalescence of Ben-Hur's mother and sister upon the crucifixion of Jesus Christ had a tremendous impact on me… According to my late mother, it was a higher priority than schoolwork.
Much later, while my memory is rather blur, my late mother told me about her youngest sister in the context of working at a National Sanatorium in an island in the Seto Inland Sea.
It's unlikely that her sister worked there…There's no way of confirming this. □