My Small Land (2022) User Reviews

Good, but raises many questions

[ineslukin · 7/10 · 17 February 2023]

The movie is very well written and acting is superb, especially from the main actress. She is very young and balancing so well in the role that has to be both mature beyond her age on one hand and childlike on another.

Before watching this movie, I was not familiar with Japanese immigration laws and was not even aware of the fact that there are Kurdish refugees in the country, so there was definitely an education moment for me as well.

Because of this reason, I am still left with some important questions unanswered despite the emotional and mindful storytelling.

1. How is it possible that minors can live alone in Japan? I do not understand how the social service would not be involved after her father went to jail, especially considering the youngest child, her brother. It seems unlikely to me that minors would just be left alone to fend for themselves, is it really so in Japan?

2. Again, I am appalled by the fact that parents must renounce their visa status in exchange for children's visa and find it hard to believe - a definite shock for me which I immediately went to google. How come the lawyer was so passive and nobody did anything for the family?

I also noticed that the main character is depicted in a kind of idealised Japanese manner - apart from her looks she and in fact her brother and sister too act and behave totally Japanese and, while this theoretically possible, I find it highly unlikely from my experience. Even the father is fluent in Japanese and speaks mostly Japanese to the kids which, again, from what I have seen in other countries strikes me as odd.

Even though it is mentioned in the movie that many Kurdish refugees speak no or very poor Japanese, they are depicted as kind of outlaws in comparison to the "good" family that behaves very Japanese (kids even slurp ramen to the annoyance of their father). The question is, why did the director feel the need to depict a "perfect" immigrant family totally immersed in local culture (which, again, does not happen so often)? Would the average viewer feel less emotionally invested if the family or the main girl were rebellious, odd or non-compliant to the Japanese manners and typical behaviour? If the main character was less "feminine" in a traditional Japanese way, less selfless or deviating in any way from the ideal behaviour, would the average viewer have same feelings of empathy towards her story? If her father spoke zero Japanese, etc., would it change the viewers perception?

Also, the good point about the movie was showing reactions of Japanese people around them to their situation; boss firing her and even telling her to stay away from her boyfriend etc. Unfortunately the consequences and the follow up were not really depicted in the movie, so I feel this topic needed a bit more thorough investigation even though I find it admirable to have such a realistic and critical stance towards the society.

All in all, this is an excellent movie about a topic not so well known and I would recommend it to anyone interested in immigration politics, sociology or simply a touching human story.

"We are Kurdish"

[holangamerkurdish · 8/10 · 13 January 2023]

"Father: There are many rocks where I was born Boy: Like here Father: Yes, there is nothing else to do in the villages except play with The stones. These stones and Kurdish stones are the same,There is no difference!!"

Kurdistan is a land between Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq. Although Kurdistan is divided into four parts, but it is 1 land for us and we are proud to be Kurds.

We are about 40 million Kurds in the world. One day we will become a country and we will get our rights back from the neighboring countries,Most people in the countries around us say it's like a dream, and I say you are right, but rest assured that one day dreams will come true.

A well-made movie with a wrong old stereotype

[rezaroohi · 8/10 · 26 January 2023]

From a technical point of view, I don't have a specific review for this movie, you will surely enjoy it and I recommend it to you.

But from the point of view of content, it is similar to the stereotype of Kurds being landless. When a boy asks a girl where are you from? The girl answers: Kurd. It is unreasonable to mention the ethnicity instead of the name of the place. It's like asking a person from Okinawa and Hokkaido where they are from and they answer Ainu and Ryukyuan. It is not true. Unfortunately, Kurdish immigrants and diaspora always show the world a helpless and landless face and always looking for a home for themselves. Kurds are people of the same origin but different beliefs, geography and history. In some places, the Kurds are under oppression and war and are looking for a country. In some places, Kurds are patriotic and love their country. For example, the Kurds in Iraq and Syria are autonomous and have their own government and army(So, right now, the existence of a country called Kurdistan has been realized to some extent). In Iran, culturally, they are the same as other people, and the discussion of separation is illogical.

Certainly, all Kurds want to protect their culture and land. But politically, there are different opinions and views. I hope that world cinema will give up this political point of view to build a pressure lever against West Asia.

Beautiful and Painful

[rubbersoul-26239 · 12 October 2022]

I desire everyone to watch it specially if you are Japanese.

It was good as a family film and a teenager film. I couldn't stop my tears several times.

The difference of what she did in front of mirror in the beginning and the last cut was so beautiful and hopeful.

The tree reminded me 'Leon: The Professional' a bit in the end.

The way of using red on the main character's hand.

The way of shooting was natural as Hirokazu Koreeda does which was beautiful. I could felt everything from the screen even smell, tastes of the foods, temperature and so on.

Acting was also great. The way of the father talks, character of Sota who's shy and kind, the boss of the convenience store, Sota's mother and so on. Everyone acted naturally and was great. Specially Lina Arashi who acted Sarya the main character. A lot of small uncomfortableness comes over her such as discrimination, micro aggression, unreasonable laws, her sister fitting to Japan, Kurds community and so on. I was really scared that if she was broken. I just wished good life for her.

The music by Roth Bart Baron matched the film and was really good. It was soft and kind but also cool and sometimes ugly.

Cloths were so cute too.

I have been to the other country as an 'alian' and have been to a small room for suspicious people and I know that it is hopeless and scary. Those experiences made me really sensitive to this film.

I could say Japan is still fine if you can make this kind of films but not only that. I shame my selfishness that I didn't vote two Japanese elections last one year. Even I wasn't in Japan and the procedures are complicated, I could have done it because I had the right. There are people in Japan who are trying to live there.

I didn't even know about Kurds at all till I knew this film.

Micro aggression is happening everywhere for everyone. People doing it, don't realise and they sometimes think it as kindness rather than harming. Luckily I think I have never got it but it was so much painful for me.

There are more problems in this film but what I can write about is this.

This film was painful and tough but really beautiful.

Nice movie

[parsamardashti · 9/10 · 30 July 2023]

The story is about a girl who lost her mother and lives with her father, brother and sister in Tokyo and they are refugees because her father was a political figure and wanted the freedom of the Kurds and he also participated in the Kurdish war. But in the end, they are forced to flee their country and become refugees in Tokyo, if their visa and asylum requests are not accepted, this family must live in a limited way, otherwise they will go to prison, the girl's father cannot follow the restrictions and He continues to work and finally his attempt to earn money for his family and work ends up in prison because their asylum application was rejected and they were not allowed to work in Tokyo. Saria's father had a selfless and family-friendly personality who returned to his country for the sake of his children to cancel his visa application so that his children who grew up in Tokyo and were born elsewhere would have visas and live in hardship. Do not continue Saria and her younger brother do not reveal their real identity because they are ashamed to speak the name of their country because their country is at war and they do not like to reveal their identity. Everyone thinks Saria is German and she tells everyone that she is German, but she is Kurdistan. Saria had a personality that changed me a lot. She was independent and tried to earn money to feed her siblings by working, cooking for them, trying to pay the rent of their own house in the absence of her own father, and becoming independent in her studies. His own and preparing to enter the university to stand on his own feet. But he could also feel the lack of affection because he had lost his mother. Her relationship with her boyfriend, who was the niece of her business owner, helped a lot in her lack of love and hiding her secrets, because he was the only one she trusted and told her everything and her boyfriend was like a counselor. He was listening to her words to make her feel better. Her boyfriend had a lovely, cool and reliable personality who had a special interest in Saria and left positive effects in Saria's life in addition to his love.

But in the last moments, when there is complete despair, there is still hope left, and by thinking positively, not losing ourselves, and continuing our efforts, we can reach our goal: when Saria was fired from her job and had no hope of being accepted into the university because her visa He didn't have it and he was disappointed if his father was planning to return because of the visa of Saria and his children and now he can go to his university with a visa. And no effort and hard work will be fruitless because Saria worked hard in her life and she will get the answer by getting accepted in the university she likes.