Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937) – S. Yamanaka

Director Sadao Yamanaka made twenty or so films in the 1930s in Japan but only three survive.  Humanity and Paper Balloons was his final film. Some say that because it offered a less than positive view of Japan in the Edo-era (all of his films are jidaigekis; i.e., period films), that he was purposefully drafted and sent to war in Manchuria by the nationalistic government in power then.  He died there in 1938 leaving only the squandered promise that he could have offered masterpieces alongside Ozu, Mizoguchi, Naruse, or Kurosawa.  Indeed, Humanity… offers a complex microcosm of a Japanese society where the poor are ghettoized, live in a world controlled by gangster and thugs, where the rich look down on those worse off, and masterless samurai (ronin) turn to suicide when they lose face.  Yet, despite the hardships faced by many here, there is still a sense of community amongst the downtrodden and even a playfulness that encourages them to spit in the eye of the bosses whenever they can.  Of course, these poor souls can never win and the samurai, who see honour as an important virtue, suffer most of all.  Yamanaka manages to bring several characters to life, vividly, while still situating them within the social context.  A good degree of subtlety in the script would reward repeat viewing. Alas, there are no further artefacts to uncover.