DATED ENTRY: The focal character in Keisuke Kinoshita's Twenty-Four Eyes (1954), Hisako Oishi (the actress Hideko Takamine in her 130th movie role!) is sent to a poor seaside village in 1928 to teach a first grade class at the local rural elementary school. The film follows her and her charges over the following two decades through the onset of the Depression, WWII and beyond, "creating an effective lesson in how the hopes and dreams of our youngest citizens and the opportunities they are given to pursue them are essential to the survival of any society." (Jamie S. Rich's film review at DVDTalk.com ,http://www.dvdtalk. com/ reviews/34313/twenty-four-eyes-criterion-collection/.>)

In your appraisal of the movie as an historic document, consider the varying attitudes expressed by individual Japanese portrayed in the film towards the modernization process as it unfolds in the Japan of the 20s and 30s and influences the course of events both nationally and internationally. Do the film's characters appear to confuse "westernization" with "modernization" or not?

Discuss the director's attitudes towards the multiple social issues touched upon within his narrative as he crafts "unadorned portrayals of poverty and the frustrated aspirations of his young stars" and "how closing off opportunities for the nation's young people was analogous to the fractured idealism [present among his Japanese audience] in post-War Japan." (Rich)

How does Kinoshita's portrait of his heroine Hisako illuminate his concept of the ideal Japanese woman and her role in modern Japanese society? How does the director's use of music (both Japanese and Western) enrich his portrayal of Japanese society and culture? What appears to be Kinoshita's interpretive "take" on the causes and consequences of Japan's experiences during the Depression and the Second World War?