The Japanese Wife movie review – another feminist propaganda inside a weak cinematic frame

This is an English movie for urban Bengali audiences. The story is about the long distance relationship between a Bengali man and a Japanese woman. The man was from rural area of Sundarban, about 40 kilometers away from Kolkata and the woman was from Yokohama. It all started with a pen-friendship between these two introvert individuals which matured into a ‘marriage’ when they exchanged wedding ring over postal service! However this man and his wife didn’t get a chance to see each other face to face, during their seventeen years of married life; the only way of their communication was through letters.

The man Snehamoy (portrayed by Rahul Bose) was raised by his aunt (portrayed by Mosumi Chatterjee) who was a widow. She wanted Snohamoy to marry her girl-friend’s daughter Sandhya (portrayed by Raima Sen), until she came to know about Snehamoy’s “marriage over mail”. Later Sandhay married another man and after ten years, came back with his son to stay with Snehomoy and his aunt as her husband died. These are the central characters of the movie which evolve around the relationship between them and inherent expectations.

The theme was quite romantic and had a promise to highlight some interesting aspects of human relationship. But the director (Aparna Sen) didn’t choose to put much effort on establishing the characters in the background of time and space. Snehamoy was a school teacher lived only 40 km away from Kolkata in the year of 2007; even then he didn’t manage to visit his beloved wife Miyage once in last 17 years. This is absurd because of the fact that the teachers in the Indian province of West Bengal (of which Kolkata is the capital) have been getting a decent pay-check since last couple of decades and these people are quite affluent in the rural areas having a low cost of living. If their bonding was so strong then Snehomoy’s financial condition should not have been an issue to make several trips to Yokohama to meet his wife.

The rural characters portrayed in the film looked cosmetic. The kids were evidently from urban background and didn’t look like village boys with there poor accent. Even Mousumi and Rahul were found to be struggling with rural accent and manners. The cinematography was not well planned to showcase the rivers, fields and villages of Sundarban to provide the audience with the right feel of the context.

This creates a serious doubt on how much the director has been exposed to the rural life and rural people in West Bengal in 2007.

Only bright spot in the movie was the silent expression of Raima in Sandhya’s character. Rahul was decent if we forget the rural accent part. The fact is that he was possibly the only option for that character having necessary personality to earn some credibility.

The director Aparna Sen has been known for her feminist ideology which has been nicely reflected in this movie. Here we see shaky Snehomoy glorifying the affection of his aunt, dedication of Miyage and silent-longing of Sandhya, by jerking off lying on a boat or fighting temptation towards street hookers in a village fair. Was this contrast really necessary, to portray a simple and passionate man’s love and longing for his wife?

Apparently, the movie has been made for the urban Bengali audiences, who already have grown a taste for good Hollywood movies and smart Bollywood movies. Most of them have stopped putting their money on Bengali movies any more. There are a few and faithful who still go to watch Bengali movie, primarily to do a social service by encouraging Bengali movie makers. Obviously they expect at least some sensible, intelligent and sincere movie from a Bengali director of repute. I’m not confident if this movie will be able to satisfy their need.

Also these days the popular belief is that, some directors make movie targeting some lobby or some festival organizers, and don’t bother about making either a memorable or a commercially successful film. With some good connections, these people end up grabbing some awards; and public usually come to know about the film for the first time when the award is announced in the news paper.

In a nutshell, the movie is not worth recommending for a view unless you have a lot of spare time or you want to donate something for the betterment of Bengali culture.

NB. I’m one such lovers of Bengali culture who still spend their money and time on Bengali movie as a social service. But being a common mortal I’ve been getting tired lately doing this service for so many years. Somebody please help us!