Japanese movie funded by religious group
- 12 years ago
A new-age religious group is warning of a potential invasion of Japan, in a new film.
In "Final Judgement", Japan becomes occupied by a fictional Asian nation, the People's Republic of Ouran.
A group of young Tokyo residents form a resistance movement against the occuaption, eventually getting rid of the invaders.
It was funded by "Happy Science", which believes it can "save all humankind through the dissemination of universal truth".
SOUNDBITE "Happy Science" member and "Final Judgement" Producer Eiichi Satomura, saying: (English)
"All around Japan there are countries increasingly beefing up their military presence to potentially invade other nations. Japanese people don't really appreciate this, so we at Happy Science want to alert Japan to this situation, set alarm bells ringing."
The producers saying they're not pointing the finger at any country in particular.
SOUNDBITE "Happy Science" member and "Final Judgement" Producer Eiichi Satomura, saying: (English)
"If people who've seen the film think it's about China, well, they're welcome to. Some people might also think it's about North Korea -- I don't know. In that sense, I'll just leave it up the viewers to make up their own minds."
Audiences seem to be keen to buy into the message - the film came in fourth at the Japanese box office this week, grossing more than USD 1.5 million dollars.
Nickie Omer, Reuters
In "Final Judgement", Japan becomes occupied by a fictional Asian nation, the People's Republic of Ouran.
A group of young Tokyo residents form a resistance movement against the occuaption, eventually getting rid of the invaders.
It was funded by "Happy Science", which believes it can "save all humankind through the dissemination of universal truth".
SOUNDBITE "Happy Science" member and "Final Judgement" Producer Eiichi Satomura, saying: (English)
"All around Japan there are countries increasingly beefing up their military presence to potentially invade other nations. Japanese people don't really appreciate this, so we at Happy Science want to alert Japan to this situation, set alarm bells ringing."
The producers saying they're not pointing the finger at any country in particular.
SOUNDBITE "Happy Science" member and "Final Judgement" Producer Eiichi Satomura, saying: (English)
"If people who've seen the film think it's about China, well, they're welcome to. Some people might also think it's about North Korea -- I don't know. In that sense, I'll just leave it up the viewers to make up their own minds."
Audiences seem to be keen to buy into the message - the film came in fourth at the Japanese box office this week, grossing more than USD 1.5 million dollars.
Nickie Omer, Reuters