SHINDO KANETO: 'THE ISLAND'

'The Island' is a film by Shindo Kaneto made in 1960. Shot in black and white on a small island in the seto naikai it shows a family of four eking out a hand to mouth existence. It is a fascinating film with little or no dialogue. The two adult characters row small boats over to the mainland to sell produce, buy goods and to take the children to school. The remoteness of the island means there is little interaction with other human characters in the film, instead it is their daily routinues that fill the screen. They weed the crops and laboriously bring water over from the mainland. The film shows them struggling with the buckets of water up the treacherous paths to the crops grown on the steep sides of the hill. The island is little more than a hill that sticks out in the sea. At one point the mother drops one of her buckets and is beaten by her husband. Presumably life is in the balance and his reaction is not only an expression of the patriarchal family structure but also an expression of the desperation of their circumstances.

There is little relief from the struggle of their daily lives as the film takes the viewer through the four seasons of the annual life cycle. Like creatures from nature, the family stick to their relentless tasks in order to survive. When one of the boys becomes sick, the other waits for his parents to come back from the mainland. His father immediately sets off for the doctor. By the time the doctor arrives it is too late. The boy succumbs to the fever and dies. His classmates come to the island and stand against the skyline whilst the casket is lowered into the ground. Later, after their farewell, the body is burned. The family is now reduced to three members and life will be that much tougher.

 

Whilst New Age values imbue the the sensibility of much of what is written about the relationship between humans and the natural world in contemporary writing, this film strips away false sentimentality and exposes the pain and hardship of life lived in close harmony with nature. And whilst modern Jungian re-evaluations of the reconnection between humanity and nature such as in Yoshimoto Banana's writing provide relief from the strain of modern urban life, this film pays homage to the people who actually lived in these environments without the advantage of wealth or modern labour saving devices. The landscape is both beautiful and brutal, as are the lives of the people who lived there.