The Naked Island

I was living next to the Seto Naikai (Inland Sea) at the time this movie was made, and marvel at its matchless, eclectic choice of images and atmosphere to convey the ambiance of the time and place. The photography, music, and restrained acting are perfection itself. The lack of dialogue helps, rather than hinders, its beautiful, simple story. It has captured a Japanese way of life and culture (actually lived by the director---the movie was made as a tribute to his parents) forever and in the very highest artistic sense. The movie is so genuine, so sympathetic to its participants and subject matter, that the viewer is softly, irresistibly, drawn in to share their travails. For years it has been a wonder to me why this classic film has been forgotten. Of the thousands of movies I have seen in my lifetime, this is the finest.

I remember this film from my student days. I saw it in an uptown, shabby, art house theatre (when art meant porn) in Philadelphia. I was amazed. As I recall, it is a film without dialog. Not silent, but no dialog. Black and white, but singularly visual. Three, maybe four characters with self- effacing directing and camera work, it was as intimate as small off-Broadway theatre. I've seen nothing since as cinematic, or moving. No one I've ever met, has seen it. But I remember it vividly.

I came to the internet searching for information on this movie. Not only did I find it, but I found a comment that mirrored my own experience with the movie. I too saw it in my student days, nearly 30 years ago, in a Friday-night "cinema" series in the student union theater. I see it's listed as B&W; I remember it in color -- maybe colorized it in my head? No dialog, just music and environmental sound; gorgeous photography of the island, the sea, the brutally hard work ferrying water for the crops on the terraces. And we follow that work for a long long time; we go through impressed, to irritated (why don't they move to town for chrissake), to rage at being made to sit through this for so long, to numb resignation. So we're right where the characters are. Writhing in my seat, hoping it will come to an end. And then the brief scene that left me stunned, that made sense of all that lead up to it, two seconds of film that explain us in the universe. Like William, I've never met anyone else who's seen this movie. And I don't know if I could sit through it again. But I'm sure glad I did back then.

I was surfing on the t.v. and came across this incredible "little" film on a French Canadian station. As there is no dialogue and the story is so human and pure, it is truly the most universal picture I've seen. I defy anyone not to be moved by the challenges which the characters face, the realism in the minimalist acting and the beauty of the simplistic black and white camerawork. I've never heard of this film, but I will tell all my friends about it.

Amazing! Let me join the happy few who saw this film when it first came out. It was in Paris. I was a student. It was L'Ile Nu I think. And I have never forgotten it and never seen it again. That's over 40 years ago! And now it is coming out on DVD and most people will never have heard of it. So my dear golden oldies who were young in 1961, rejoice and tell everyone. This is pure cinema with no frills, worthy of comparison with Dreyer, Bresson and O'Flaherty and a lovely companion piece to Shindo's ONIBABA. That onibaba grass stayed with us over the years as did that naked island. Talking of films lost but not forgotten, I can draw a comparison with MERE JEANNE DES ANGES (same subject matter as Ken Russell's THE DEVILS)which I saw in Leipzig in about 1962 and which I have never seen since. What a coincidence! That Polish film (MOTHER JOAN OF THE ANGELS)is also coming out on DVD. Real poetic cinema is trickling through the mishmash.