Twenty-Four Eyes

Twenty-Four Eyes is one of Japan's most beloved movies. But surprisingly, US distributors no longer carry this film. I have an old VHS copy and recently purchased the DVD version from Asia. The story is about a young free-thinking school teacher who gets a job in a poor inland sea village. The title of the movie refers to her 12 students who become very attached to her. The film follows the lives of both the teacher and her pupils over two decades, from 1928 to just after World War Two. Some consider it an anti-war movie because the teacher, played by Takamine Hideko, tries to talk her male students out of becoming soldiers. Of course they don't listen. They go off to war and die. Her husband is also killed in the war. There's a very moving scene where the teacher visits the graves of her former students. Some of the female students suffer misfortune too. The film is a real tear-jerker. You may find yourself crying throughout most of the movie. That's how powerful it is. Some Japanese film aficionados may not like this film because it's not artsy. But I feel this is a must-see movie for anyone serious about Japanese cinema.