A Town of Love and Hope

Hiroshi Fujikawa has a scam of selling his sister's pet pigeons, knowing they will fly back if they get the chance. He's done it before and expects to do it again. His family is desperately poor. His mother is a shoe shine, but is sick and cannot work, and welfare does not pay enough for them to live on. His mother wants him to go to high school, and his teacher, Kakuko Chino, understands her desire and their plight.

Fujikawa has sold the pigeons this time to Yuki Tominaga. Her younger brother is sick, and never likes the gifts she brings, When Miss Chino finds out about the pigeon scam, she explains to Miss Tominaga, who tries to get Fujikawa a job at her father's company. Her elder brother, Fumio Watanabe, begins a courtship with Miss Chino.

Nagisa Ôshima's first movie as a director is an overt and strident study of class warfare in the new Japan of rich businessmen and the poverty stricken. set in the industrial sections of Tokyo. Although I thought the ending a bit over the top, it's a cleanly written and performed movie with something to say.