The Naked Island (1960) on Netflix
On a small island in the Setonaikai archipelago, Toyo, Senta and their two sons are its only residents, farming crops that need water carried by rowboat from a neighboring island.
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- Netflix4.5/5
- IMDb8.0/106,892 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
A family of four are the sole inhabitants of a small island, where they struggle each day to irrigate their crops.
Deals with the intolerably hard life of a family of four, the only inhabitants of a very small Japanese island in the Setonaikai archipelago. Several times a day they row over to the neighboring island to fetch water for their miserable fields.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Naked Island (1960)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Lead actor Taiji Tonoyama was suffering from severe liver disease caused by alcohol dependence, but recovered his health because there was no alcohol near the filming location; these events were later dramatized in Shindo's biopic about Tonoyama, By Player.
- In his last published book, director Kaneto Shindo admitted the film's premise of carrying water to the island was false: the crop shown being watered, sweet potatoes, does not actually need extensive watering.
- Kindai Eiga Kyokai, the independent company behind the film, was close to bankruptcy, so director Kaneto Shindo sank his last funds into making it, and the film's financial success saved the company.
- Shindo deliberately made the actors carry heavily loaded buckets of water so that the yokes they used would be seen to bend, symbolizing the harshness of their lives.
- The film's success in France led to its main theme becoming the song L'Île Nue, written by Eddy Marnay and first interpreted by Jacqueline Danno.
- In 1961 the film won the Grand Prix at the 2nd Moscow International Film Festival in a tie with Grigori Chukhrai's Clear Skies, with Luchino Visconti, whose La Terra Trema is an inspiration, on the jury.
