The Island
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Kaneto Shindo
Nobuko Otowa
Taiji Tonoyama
Shinji Tanaka
Masanori Horimoto
Toshio Enoki
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
The sole inhabitants of a small island off the coast of Japan are a farmer, his wife, and their two young sons. The arduous routine of their daily struggle for survival involves endless trips to the mainland for buckets of water which must be carried up the rocky slope of the island to water the meager crops. Each morning the mother rows her son to the school on the mainland and then returns for him in the evening. Though their life is one of endless toil, their lot is a happy one, occasionally highlighted by a festival or the sale of a large fish one of the boys has caught. Then one day the elder boy becomes ill and dies. After his funeral, the mother breaks down and, in a fit of anguish, overturns a bucket of water and uproots some of the crops. Her husband helplessly watches until her anger has subsided, then both silently return to tilling their soil.
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Released in Japan in 1961 as Hadaka no shima; running time: 92 min.
