Woman In The Dunes - Movie Review Example

Woman in the Dunes Introduction The film “Woman in the Dunes”, directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara, was released in 1964. It was based on the 1962 novel by Kobo Abe. It is a story about an entomologist named Jumpei Niki who goes on an expedition to study insects that inhabit sand dunes. As he set out for his expedition, he was late and thus missed the last bus back to the city. The villagers offer him a place to spend the night, guiding him down a rope ladder to a house that is under a sand quarry (Morris 1). This is the home of a young woman called Kyoko Kishida, who lives alone as her husband had died due to a sandstorm. She is employed to dig up sand for construction by the villagers, and prevent it from burying the house. On waking up the following morning, the ladder that he had climbed down on was gone. He realizes that it was a trap, as the villagers force him to stay there and help the woman in digging up the sand. Discovering that it was the villagers’ plan for him to stay there permanently, he makes several escape attempts, but they all fail (Crowther 1). Later, he learns that the woman is comfortable with the life that she lives since she knows no other life. His main task is trying to figure out how to escape from his trapped life, and at the same time, co-exist with the woman. The story later takes a turn in that, with time, Jumpei and Kyoko have a strong physical attraction for each other (Morris 1). They later adapt to each other and become lovers, despite their suffering in confinement. The producer has depicted how life can turn out to be what was not expected. The bad situation for Jumpei ends up getting him a woman to love. The tough situation for Kyoko also gets her a man to love. The two persevered for long, but they finally benefit from it. The paper describes some of the concepts, themes and characters derived from the film, after critical analysis, focusing on the main idea of the producer. Jumpei Nikki’s character The film describes an evolving character named Jumpei. At the beginning, Jumpei is portrayed as an entomologist on a field work expedition. Here, he appears as a humble, naive and curious scientist, who trusts that the villagers are friendly enough just to offer him a place to stay for the night (Morris 1). Later, when he discovers that the villagers tricked him, he clearly is furious. Reality hits and he focuses on escaping from a life of suffering. At this point, Jumpei is no longer a naive scientist, but a strong, confident man whose desperation ignites a character full of rage, focus and determination towards one goal (Crowther 1). Jumpei’s change of character, as a result of a stressful situation, is symbolic to the normal human life. It describes the human life as one defined in confinement and imprisonment. This shows how a tight situation can force the change in character of a person, whereby the survival instinct kicks (Morris 1). Kyoko Kishida’s character Suffering, lonely, toil, perseverance, are the qualities that come to mind, when considering Kyoko Kishida. She is a woman living alone in a dangerous environment, living on the edge, trying to ensure that the advancing sand does not consume her home. She is also a widow who lost her husband and son to a sandstorm (Crowther 1). The young woman is faced with an endless task, to dig sand for the villagers’ use. However, surprisingly, this is her lifestyle; the only life she knows and is willing to die for. Having lived under such conditions for practically her whole life, she can guide Jumpei into acceptance. The symbolic significance of this is to show the coexistence between two people from different backgrounds. Jumpei is a rough, nervous man, while Kyoto is calm and composed (Morris 1). Attraction After Jumpei’s several failed attempts to escape, he begins to get absorbed into the new way of life. He realizes that the young woman, from her experience, is his best shot at survival (Crowther 1). Later, they find themselves having a sexual attraction towards each other, in spite of their situation. The attraction between the two could also be caused by the situation itself. This means that they find themselves in a position whereby they are stuck together, with little or no contact to the outside world. Despite differences in the background and approach to the state of imprisonment, the two end up as lovers. The strong feelings cause Jumpei’s focus to shift from escaping, to coping with the oppression. His desire to escape dims out like a dying candle, as he now wants to remain in the sand dunes with Kyoto (Morris 1). Sexual attraction between Jumpei Nikki and Kyoko Kishida, symbolizes the way people find ways to cope with a situation, no matter how bad it may be, and hold on to an area of comfort. However, their relationship remains unstable as Jumpei finds himself drifting off from his initial task, to gain freedom (Morris 1). Oppression Later, the focus of the film shifts to how the couple tries to cope with the difficult conditions that they have to encounter. Their survival depends on consistent digging up of sand. The film, in this stage, displays a sense of hopelessness for the couple, whereby they still face some ripples in their relationship. This symbolizes how man loses his spirit of hope in times of difficult demands and oppressions in his environment (Crowther 1). The film introduced Jumpei as a high spirited man with dedication to his work, whose spirit got broken by the hardship he undergoes. This is a clear indication of how man can be broken by various factors in his life, despite his character. Acceptance Finally, Nikki finds ways to adapt to this isolated life and occupy his time. He goes ahead and develops a way to extract water from damp sand. His survival skill has evolved at this point. This shows a sign of acceptance of his fate in the story. At this point, his desire for freedom has already faded, surrendering himself to this life of misery. He adapts to it, and things become easier, as the ripples die down. At one point, at the end of the film, Jumpei gets a chance to escape but he turns it down (Morris 1). Acceptance is considered the final stage of man’s misery, whereby, one has to give in to the situation. It is the point that one lets go of the single shred of hope. As a result, ironically, as Hiroshi Teshigahara tries to show, things get easier. Works Cited Bosely, Crowther. “Movie Review: Woman in the Dunes (1964)”. The New York Times 1964. Web. 19 Mar 2012. Gary, Morris. “Woman in the Dunes on DVD.” Bright lights Film Journal 2000. Web. 19 Mar. 2012. Read More