hachi tarou monogatari (4 out of 5) - 1987

Its an interesting Japanese movie about a loyal dog. The movie starts of with the birth of puppies and director has taken all efforts to show the birth process naturally. The movie then goes to another place where they show a family which had recently lost their pet dog. The new born puppy is sent to them though the entire family opposes except the daughter. The daughter ignores the dog after her marriage. The portrayal of changing characteristics of human beings with changing environment is portrayed in a creative and artistic manner. The director thus brings the contrast between the man and the dog. They call him hachi which means faithful dog.

Hachi (The dog) brings lots of changes in the life of the family. The head of the family who is a professor in Agri university(you could call him the hero)- Ueno, becomes very close to the dog and he takes care of it like his child. After his daughter's marriage he becomes really close to it and all his thoughts are around Hachi. Every morning and evening the dog accompanies the professor from home to railway station and back. Everyone is amazed by the punctuality of the dog. Every evening Hachi waits for his masters arrival. The station master, a shopkeeper near the station and other on-goers admire the love showered by Hachi (it's the dog's love for the man that gets depicted here). However, the professor dies suddenly one day (1925). Hachi doesn't realize this and continues waiting for the professor at the railway station at the usual spot for next 10 years, till it dies. The screenplay and direction is amazing as you reach the last half an hour of the movie. The director will make you feel for the dog.

I loved it and I would recommend all the readers of this blog also to watch that movie. This movie has given me motivation to watch more Japanese Classics. This is the statue of the dog that is currently there in a railways station in Japan. I think this is based on a true story.

- Arun (Nettayan)