Army

The film follows three generations of a Japanese family inside an order in which loyalty to the army counts as a duty passed from father to son. The son, in poor health since childhood, has to carry on the family’s military tradition and is finally sent to the front. It was made in 1944, while the war was still on and under strict censorship; the army had wanted it as a film of patriotism. But Keisuke Kinoshita’s ending stays at length on the face of the mother running after the marching column in search of her son, and shows fear where pride was expected. For that the director was barred from making films until the end of the war. Kinuyo Tanaka and Chishu Ryu appear in the eighty seven minute film.