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Barefoot Gen

Barefoot Gen

Animation · Drama · War · 1983

A story about the effect of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on a boy's life and the lives of the Japanese people.

Movie details

Barefoot Gen

“The bombing of Hiroshima as seen through the eyes of a young boy.”

1983 Animation · Drama · War 1h 23m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.6 / 10

Community rating

A story about the effect of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on a boy's life and the lives of the Japanese people.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Barefoot Gen?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

In This Corner of the World

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Japan, 1943, during World War II. Young Suzu leaves her village near Hiroshima to marry and live with her in-laws in Kure, a military harbor. Her creativity to overcome deprivation quickly makes her indispensable at home. Inhabited by an ancestral wisdom, Suzu impregnates the simple gestures of everyday life with poetry and beauty. The many hardships, the loss of loved ones, the frequent air raids of the enemy, nothing alters her enthusiasm…

Giovanni's Island

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In the aftermath of the most devastating conflict mankind had ever experienced, the tiny island of Shikotan became part of the Sakhalin Oblast... and on the unhealed border in this remote corner of the world, friendship among children from two different countries timidly blossomed, striving to overcome language barriers and the waves of history. Inspired by true events.

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From Up on Poppy Hill

From Up on Poppy Hill

Animation · 2011

Yokohama, 1963. Japan is picking itself up from the devastation of World War II and preparing to host the 1964 Olympics—and the mood is one of both optimism and conflict as the young generation struggles to throw off the shackles of a troubled past. Against this backdrop of hope and change, a friendship begins to blossom between high school students Umi and Shun—but a buried secret from their past emerges to cast a shadow on the future and pull them apart.

Ethel & Ernest

Ethel & Ernest

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This hand drawn animated film, based on the award winning graphic novel by Raymond Briggs, is an intimate and affectionate depiction of the life and times of his parents, two ordinary Londoners living through extraordinary events.

Barefoot Gen 2

Barefoot Gen 2

Animation · 1986

Three years after the Hiroshima bombing, a teenager helps a group of orphans to survive and find their new life.

The Breadwinner

The Breadwinner

Animation · 2017

A headstrong young girl in Afghanistan, ruled by the Taliban, disguises herself as a boy in order to provide for her family.

When the Wind Blows

When the Wind Blows

Animation · 1986

With the help of government-issued pamphlets, an elderly British couple build a shelter and prepare for an impending nuclear attack, unaware that times and the nature of war have changed from their romantic memories of World War II.

Emperor

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Drama · 2012

As the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII, Gen. Fellers is tasked with deciding if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged as a war criminal. Influencing his ruling is his quest to find Aya, an exchange student he met years earlier in the U.S.

The Bridge on the River Kwai

The Bridge on the River Kwai

Drama · 1957

The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Mori Masaki

Written by

Keiji Nakazawa

I

Issei Miyazaki

Gen Nakaoka (voice)

M

Masaki Kouda

Shinji Nakaoka (voice)

Seiko Nakano

Seiko Nakano

Eiko Nakaoka (voice)

T

Takao Inoue

Daikichi Nakaoka (voice)

Yoshie Shimamura

Yoshie Shimamura

Kimie Nakaoka (voice)

Takeshi Aono

Takeshi Aono

Hidezo (voice)

Katsuji Mori

Katsuji Mori

Seiji Yoshida (voice)

Court is in session

Put Barefoot Gen on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.