Humanity and Paper Balloons

HUMANITY AND PAPER BALLOONS
NINJO KAMI FUSEN
Japan
1937
86 Min
Black and White
1.33:1
Japanese
DIR Sadao Yamanaka
SCR Shintarô Mimura
DP Akira Mimura
CAST Chojuro Kawarasaki, Kanemon Nakamura, Tsuruzo Nakamura, Choemon Bando
MUSIC Tadashi Ota
My Rating : 5/5 (Great Movie)


Poetry is a dying art form mainly because good poetry generally made people think and interpret unlike the vulgar and crass, in-your-face forms of expression that people are being fed upon today. Humanity and Paper Balloons is not just a movie but rather its poetry in cinematic form.
The movie leaves a lot of food for thought for the viewer; so much so that I was glaring at the blank screen for several minutes after this movie ended. The part about demystifying the Samurai is only a small part of what this film explores. This movie touches upon unemployment, poverty, greed, lechery, violence and so many other ills that have plagued humanity over the years and will continue to do so in the future. The periodic setting of this movie is only a backdrop that strangely emphasizes the contemporariness of the plot. Whether it is the hairdresser, the ronin, the landlord, the tenants, the hoodlums or even the elderly arrogant samurai; all are characters that we have quite possibly seen in contemporary life or in other movies with different names. The point that Yamanaka seem’s to be making most strongly in this film is about the fact that humanity, just like the paper balloon at the end of the movie, has slipped from the hands of innocence and has been lying in the gutter for times immemorial. There is hence no pride in looking back at our history or reminiscing upon our traditions simply because they aren’t as holy as we think they are. Those people were just as corrupt as we are today. The movie also seems to be a critique upon the nations who were trying to rake up their past in order to lead their respective countries to war in the hope of a glory that was lost.
The most harrowing reality that this movie portrays in the end through the suicides is that self respecting people are killing themselves in todays world where the greedy, sycophants and rebellious fanatics have become the protectors and champions of the human race.