''The Naked Island'' ( ja, text=裸の島, translit=Hadaka no Shima) is a Japanese
black-and-white
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
film from 1960, directed by
Kaneto Shindō
was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film producer, and writer, who directed 48 films and wrote scripts for 238. His best known films as a director include ''Children of Hiroshima'', ''The Naked Island'', '' Onibaba'', ''Kuroneko'' an ...
. The film is notable for having almost no spoken dialogue.
Plot
The film depicts a small family, a husband and wife and two sons, struggling to get by on a tiny island in the
Seto Inland Sea
The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka ...
on the island of Sukune in
Mihara, Hiroshima
is a city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on November 15, 1936. As of July 31, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 97,324 and a population density of 206.62 persons per km2. The total area is 471.03 km2 ...
, over the course of a year. They are the island's only occupants, and survive by farming. They must repeatedly carry the water for their plants and themselves in a row boat from a neighboring island.
When the boys catch a large fish, the family travels to
Onomichi
is a city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, facing the Inland Sea. The city was founded on April 1, 1898. As of April 30, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 141,811 and a population density of 497.8 persons per km2. The total a ...
by ferry, where they sell it to a fishmonger, then eat at a modern restaurant.
While the parents are away from the island, the older son falls ill. The desperate father runs to find a doctor to come to treat his son, but when they arrive, the boy is already dead. After the boy's funeral, which is attended by his classmates from his school on the neighboring island, the family resumes their hard life, with very limited opportunity for grief.
Production
Director and scriptwriter Kaneto Shindo decided to make this film because he wanted to make a film without any dialogue.
The independent production company
Kindai Eiga Kyokai
Kindai may refer to:
* Kindai, Tanzania, an administrative ward
* Kindai High School, Higashiosaka, Osaka, Japan
* Kindai University, Osaka, Japan
* Kanazawa University
Kanazawa University ( ja, 金沢大学, Kanazawa Daigaku, abbreviated to ...
was close to bankruptcy at the time this film was made, and Shindo sank his last funds into making the film. The film's financial success saved the company.
The lead actor
Taiji Tonoyama
was a Japanese character actor who made many appearances in films and on television from 1939 to 1989. He was a close friend of Kaneto Shindo and one of his regular cast members. He was also an essayist. In 1950 he helped form the film company Ki ...
was suffering from severe liver disease due to alcohol dependence, but recovered his health because there was no alcohol available near the filming location.
These events were later dramatized in Shindo's biopic about Tonoyama, ''
By Player
is a 2000 Japanese biographical film directed by Kaneto Shindo based on the life of actor Taiji Tonoyama.
The film is a series of vignettes from Taiji Tonoyama's life and film clips, interspersed with a dialogue to camera by Nobuko Otowa, addr ...
''.
In his last published book before he died, Shindo noted that the film's premise of carrying water to the island is false, because the crop shown being watered in the film,
sweet potato
The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the Convolvulus, bindweed or morning glory family (biology), family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a r ...
es, do not actually need extensive watering.
Shindo deliberately made the actors carry heavily-loaded buckets of water so that the yokes they were using would be seen to bend, symbolizing the harshness of their lives.
![SUKUNE Island 1974](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/SUKUNE_Island_1974.jpg)
The island location in the film is an uninhabited island called Sukune off the coast of a larger island called Sagishima, part of
Mihara, Hiroshima
is a city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on November 15, 1936. As of July 31, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 97,324 and a population density of 206.62 persons per km2. The total area is 471.03 km2 ...
.
Reception
In 1961, the film won the Grand Prix (in a tie with
Grigori Chukhrai
Grigory Naumovich Chukhray (russian: Григо́рий Нау́мович Чухра́й; uk, Григорiй Наумович Чухрай; 23 May 1921 – 28 October 2001) was a Ukrainian Soviet and Russian film director and screenwriter. ...
's ''
Chistoye nebo'') at the
2nd Moscow International Film Festival
The 2nd Moscow International Film Festival was held from 9 to 23 July 1961. The Grand Prix was shared between the Japanese film ''The Naked Island'' directed by Kaneto Shindo and the Soviet film '' Clear Skies'' directed by Grigori Chukhrai.
Jur ...
, at which
Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, stage director, and screenwriter. A major figure of Italian art and culture in the mid-20th century, Visconti was one of the fat ...
(whose ''
La Terra Trema'' is an inspiration) was a jury member.
In 1963, the film was nominated for "Best Film from any Source" at the
16th British Academy Film Awards.
References
External links
*
*
*
*
''The Naked Island: The Silence of the Sea''an essay by
Haden Guest
,
Haden Guest (born 1971) in Geneva, New York, is a film historian, archivist and curator. He is Director of the Harvard Film Archive and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Art, Film and Visual Studies, Harvard University
Harvard Unive ...
at the
Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naked Island, The
1960 films
Japanese black-and-white films
1960 drama films
Films directed by Kaneto Shindo
Films set on islands
Films shot in Onomichi
Films without speech
1960s Japanese-language films
Films with screenplays by Kaneto Shindo
1960s Japanese films