The Japanese film 'Shoplifting' by director Hirokazu Kore-Eda, a Melbourne Film Festival, quickly sold out this year. The queue to see the film stretched from the front of the Kino cinema to the steps and then up to the level on Collins Street above. The film had already won a number of important awards and was a 'must see' for fans of Japanese cinema. The poverty that the film explored was perhaps a novelty for many young cinema goers who see Japan as a first world economy. Those who have seen the films of the post-war period know that, for an older generation of film goers in Japan, it would bring back memories from not a not so distant past when the country was devastated by war.
In 'Shoplifting a young boy is shown teaching his young 'sister', a new addition to the household rescued from an abusive household, how to steal food from the local shop. Towards the end of the film the shopkeeper, who is forced to close, gives the boy some snacks and tells him not to teach her to steal. He has known all along how the young boy and his 'father' come to his shop in order to steal food but he has turned a blind eye. When the family is discovered by the authorities, they are living in an apartment that belonged to an old woman who died. To avoid discovery they bury her in the house. The body is subsequently discovered as is the body of the husband of the young woman who plays the role of the 'mother'. There is a media storm and the 'mother' takes responsibility and goes to prison. The film looks at how these people living below the poverty line in a big city like Tokyo survive. It looks at how they have to break the law in order to survive. The way these individuals form a 'family' unit in order to survive is reminiscent of the anime 'Tokyo Godfathers' by Satoshi Kon. This is another grim look at the Japanese under-class who largely remain invisible in everyday Japanese discourse despite their obvious visibility. This film puts them front and centre in a film designed to prick the social conscience of a nation in which failure isn't an option and hasn't been since the twelfth century.
Another island nation built on a fault line that explores similar social dilemmas in film is New Zealand. In the film 'Boy by director Taika Waititi there is a similar family group experiencing poverty. While the grandmother is attending a funeral her son comes home from prison having formed a gang with a couple of mates. He proceeds to dig up a paddock where he has buried treasure. As more and more holes are dug his son dreams of joining the gang. He begins to steal marijuana from a crop next door for his father. This leads to a visit from a rival gang and a few heads are busted. When the grandmother finally comes home the children busily cover the holes in the walls of the house with their art work. The father finally visits his dead wife in the cemetery is rescued living under a nearby bridge after he falls into the water.
Both families in these two island nations are fringe dwellers but they all have their dreams and in their own way look out for each other. Whether state intervention or institutionalisation is the answer is doubtful. The young people and the adults who care for them form relationships that are caring despite the blatant disregard for the law. In both cases there is an absence of 'adult' figures apart from the grandmothers. The problem is that their 'children' have failed to become independent and self supporting. As a result the next generation experiences a debilitating poverty from which it is hard to imagine that they can escape.
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