Bashing (2005)

Yuko volunteered to be an aid worker in Iraq and was taken hostage there. When freed she returned to Japan, but after being home six months she is still the ongoing object of harassment ... See full summary »

Director:

Masahiro Kobayashi

Writer:

Masahiro Kobayashi (screenplay)

Stars:

Fusako Urabe, Nene Ohtsuka, Takayuki Katô

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview:
Fusako Urabe	...	Yuko
Nene Ohtsuka	...	Yuko's step mother
Takayuki Katô	...	Koibito
Kikujirô Honda	...	Father's Boss
Ryûzô Tanaka	...	Yuko's father
Teruyuki Kagawa	...	Hotel-shihainin

Storyline

Yuko volunteered to be an aid worker in Iraq and was taken hostage there. When freed she returned to Japan, but after being home six months she is still the ongoing object of harassment from her own countrymen. A co-worker finds many angry postings on the Internet denouncing her and spreads them very vocally, causing her boss let her go. He tells her that the atmosphere at the hotel where she works as a chambermaid has changed negatively as a result. Several anonymous phones are made daily to her at home where she lives with her father and stepmother, saying that she is an embarrassment and disgrace to Japan. She is even harassed by strangers on the street after buying soup at a local convenience store, ruining her dinner. Her boyfriend dumps her, calling her actions as a volunteer in a foreign country selfish, that she should have stayed in Japan and only helped her own community. Yuko's father supported her decision to go to the Middle East, and he defends her actions after her ...

---

Plot Keywords:

volunteer | iraq | leftist | propaganda film | torment | 

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

14 June 2006 (France)

Also Known As:

Desonra

Filming Locations:

Tokyo, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Monkey Town Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

User Reviews

A touching movie based on a real story

This film is based on the real story of a girl who is back at home in Japan after having taken hostage in Iraq, where she was gone to do charity work. Rather than being seen as a victim, she is considered as an embarrassment for the whole Japanese society and subject to hostility and threats. She is fired from her work, leaves her boyfriend who has turned against her and is harassed by anonymous phone calls and emails. Hostility even reaches her father. She cannot even find comfort with her family because of incommunicable. The film is realised with great sobriety, and remarkably played by Fusako Urabe. It is a good picture of the weight of conformism and rigidity of a society which can destroy individuals. This film was shown in competition in Cannes 2005.