During Japan's occupation of Korea (1910-45) over two million Koreans, both voluntarily and forcefully, went to Japan to work. After World War II ended and Korea was released from Japan's imperialism, most of the Koreans returned to their homeland. However, some six hundred thousand decided to remain in Japan for such reasons as if they returned to Korea they could only bring a certain number of belongings and that Korea was in political shambles. Almost one fourth of the Koreans who stayed in Japan worked in the mining industry, but as the Japanese soldiers returned home from the war most of the Koreans lost their jobs to these returning soldiers. Imamura Shohei's 1959 film concerns a small village of miners and centers on one family: The Yasumotos My Second Brother opens with the funeral of the father of the Yasumoto family, leaving the elder brother Kiichi, elder sister Ryoko, younger brother Koichi, and younger sister Sueko orphans. Already extremely poor, the death of the father and the loss of his income really puts the family in a bind. Kiichi works as a miner, but with almost daily worker cuts his position is less than sure. In order to try to make ends meet he engages in a number of contests to win money, but of course meets with little success. Ryoko is a serious, hard working girl who is indeed much more of a mother t her younger siblings than an older sister. Koichi, the films second brother, is the focus of the film. Full of spunk and easily angered, he carries a lot on his thin shoulders. Much more responsible than his elder brother, he worries constantly about the welfare of his family, especially that of his younger sister. Sueko is a sweet, kind-hearted girl whose main concern is that her family can stay together. Imamura supposedly based the film on the diary of a young Korean girl and it is from Sueko's writing that the story unfolds.
In order to survive, Kiichi leaves for Nagasaki to work and Ryoko goes to a nearby town to work at a butcher shop. With their older siblings gone, Koichi and Sueko stay with a kind man named Gengoro, but they receive quite a cool reception from his wife. It is not malicious, but the woman is concerned about being able to support her own family. The two children move around quite a bit during the film and although they meet up with their elder siblings a couple of times in the film, this film is full of unease and uncertainty.
Like his fellow Japanese New Wave director, Oshima Nagisa, Imamura Shohei was concerned with poverty in postwar Japan, I recommend watching this film in conjunction with Oshima Nagisa's A Street of Love and Hope which was released the same year to get a filmic view of poverty of the urban sprawl, and the ordeals of Japan's minority groups. Unlike Oshima's Death by Hanging (1968), Imamura's treatment of resident Koreans is not quite as political. His is more of a "slice of life" film and much more earthy than the creations of Oshima Nagisa. However, for those unaware of certain aspects of Korean culture, food, clothing, et., and the presence of the large Korean population in Japan, it might not be apparent that the Yasumotos, many Koreans adopted Japanese names such as changing the name Kim which is written with the character for gold, 金、to Kaneda, 金田, and the rest of the villagers are Korean until an old woman mentions that Sueko and her family does not have it as bad as earlier generations of Koreans in Japan.
While considered a minor work by Imamura My Second Brother is a good film to watch for those interested in Japanese minority studies and the early films of the Japanese New Wave.
In order to survive, Kiichi leaves for Nagasaki to work and Ryoko goes to a nearby town to work at a butcher shop. With their older siblings gone, Koichi and Sueko stay with a kind man named Gengoro, but they receive quite a cool reception from his wife. It is not malicious, but the woman is concerned about being able to support her own family. The two children move around quite a bit during the film and although they meet up with their elder siblings a couple of times in the film, this film is full of unease and uncertainty.
Like his fellow Japanese New Wave director, Oshima Nagisa, Imamura Shohei was concerned with poverty in postwar Japan, I recommend watching this film in conjunction with Oshima Nagisa's A Street of Love and Hope which was released the same year to get a filmic view of poverty of the urban sprawl, and the ordeals of Japan's minority groups. Unlike Oshima's Death by Hanging (1968), Imamura's treatment of resident Koreans is not quite as political. His is more of a "slice of life" film and much more earthy than the creations of Oshima Nagisa. However, for those unaware of certain aspects of Korean culture, food, clothing, et., and the presence of the large Korean population in Japan, it might not be apparent that the Yasumotos, many Koreans adopted Japanese names such as changing the name Kim which is written with the character for gold, 金、to Kaneda, 金田, and the rest of the villagers are Korean until an old woman mentions that Sueko and her family does not have it as bad as earlier generations of Koreans in Japan.
While considered a minor work by Imamura My Second Brother is a good film to watch for those interested in Japanese minority studies and the early films of the Japanese New Wave.
