Slum Dog Millionaire, Departures (Okuribito)

The Academy Awards have passed, and this was one of those years where a particular film seemed to take all the awards. That film would be British / Indian film Slum Dog Millionaire. I haven't seen it, and frankly am not a big Oscars fan, but for the past few weeks, turn on any news program or movie show and that was all you heard about.

In my classes, the talk is of a Japanese film "Departures" (Okuribito), a story about a man who prepares bodies for funeral, which won the "Best Foreign Film" category. A lot of my students talking about this movie have never heard of "Slum Dog Millionaire" and have no idea that it won any Oscars. It reminds me of the Olympics when all you hear about is the one figure skater or judo competitor who did well (or else maybe an uproar over a questionable call) and have no idea how other countries or sports fared. Ditto for the occasion when a Japanese wins a Nobel Prize. Pride in an accomplishment is fine. but one gets the impression that Japan has swept the Oscars this year.

If I were to bring this perspective up, invariably I'll be told "It's the mass media's fault" and "How are we supposed to know? We are a small island nation."