The Death Lullaby

In The Death Lullaby, experimental amateur animator Hiroshi Harada created an aggressively expressive portrait of the socio-political climate in Japan at the end of the 1960s. Made in the mid-1980s, the film creates, through the story of a bullied boy, a parallel to ordinary citizens who in the 1960s were cruelly made aware of the weight of their opinions and rights in a new age when the pace of life was drastically accelerating. The construction of the Shinkansen high-speed railway and, later, Narita Airport cost many people their homes and led to the destruction of traditional villages. Harada recalls these facts with the insertion of period photographs and archival materials. Whereas his oppressed protagonist ultimately gets his revenge, the resistance of villagers and students against the imposing Narita was futile. (24/02/2013)