In Hiroshima Prefecture during the Meiji era, simple housemaid Seki accepts the proposal of Moichi, an educated mail carrier, who has decided to quit his job and save money for a warehouse by transporting goods with his wooden cart. Seki's parents disown her for not asking for their approval, and also Moichi's mother, a widow, does not accept her as her daughter-in-law, treating her disdainfully. The couple borrows money for a second cart, and Seki joins her husband in his hard labour life. The film follows Seki through familial and financial difficulties and her raising five children over the next 50 years, and ends with the post-waragrarian reform.
The production of Ballad of the Cart was funded with the help of Japan's National Association of Women Farmers and produced by the National Rural Film Association.[2] Screenwriter Yoshikata Yoda, a frequent collaborator of director Kenji Mizoguchi, adapted Tomoe Yamashiro's 1956 novel of the same name, a notable post-war example of Japanese "peasant literature".[4]
Release
The film was released cinematically in Japan on February 11, 1959 by Shintoho.[1][2] It was later released on DVD in 2004.[5]
In Kinema Junpo magazine's list of the 10 best Japanese films of the year, Ballad of the Cart reached #4 in 1959.[7]
Reception
Film scholar Alexander Jacoby pointed out the film's depth of characterisation and intelligent script, calling it "exceptionally moving" and "probably Yamamoto's masterpiece".[3]
^ abJacoby, Alexander (2008). Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN978-1-933330-53-2.
