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S a t o r a r e
“Satorare“ is one of the Japanese movies I like most. In Japanese, the
word, Satorare means that thoughts are being noticed or realized by others.
How would you feel if others could read your thoughts?
Satorares are rare in
human society, having special abilities with the potential to bring enormous
profits to their state and people. Therefore, their state protects them from
cradle to grave as a national project. Also, all Satorares’ thoughts are
automatically transmitted to people’s minds. In other words, they have the
inability to tell lies. But Satorares don’t realize this fact. Actually, people
are banned from directly or indirectly revealing this fact to Satorares. It can
be easily imagined that Satorares would go crazy if they knew this
fact.
One day a plane crashes, killing all passengers except for a boy.
The rescued boy turns out to be a Satorare. Rescue team members can hear his
voice in their minds. Since then, he is raised by his grandmother who is the
only relative living in his hometown after the passing of his parents in the
plane crash. All residents in the town seem to be growing tired of hearing his
thoughts every day, but the town is highly dependent on the funding provided by
the national government for the purpose of creating ideal circumstances in the
town for the Satorare. Many security guards are secretly monitoring and
protecting the Satorare 24 hours, 7 days a week.
The boy's dream is to
become a medical doctor in order to help improve the lives of people. He has
been wondering for years why he was the only survivor from the terrible plane
crash. And he has come to the self-realization that his life must have some
meaning. Actually, his role in life becomes that of a highly gifted doctor but
this leads to serious problems. Consider the consequences if all of a doctor’s
thoughts are conveyed to his or her patients... Furthermore, the national
project team has been putting pressure on him to become a medical researcher
instead of just a medical doctor; expecting great inventions from him to promote
national economic interests.
Let me briefly tell you about the most
touching scene involving the main character. He is finally permitted to perform
surgery after it is discovered that his grandmother has been suffering from a
malignant tumor. During his grandmother's operation, all residents are carefully
paying attention to his thoughts, which reveal his memories and his deep love
toward his grandmother. ”I’m sorry grandma …“ he is mourning again and again.
"I’m sorry, I had not even noticed your bad condition. Even though you had been
by my side and taken care of me every day. I’m sorry, I’m very sorry …. I’ll
find a cure for you…” The operation seems to be successful in its late stages
but he finds other tumors that have already spread to other organs. At that
moment everyone has come to realize that it’s too late. Every time I am reminded
of this scene, I can't help being moved to tears.
Well, this movie
demonstrates how difficult it is for us to remain honest in this information
intensive age we live in. Being honest won’t pay off in many cases. Honest
people are always vulnerable to false and bad information. We have to be tactful
to live well in a sense. We have to tell many lies to others or even ourselves
either consciously or unconsciously to spend an easy life. At the same time, we
have to be sceptical of others or about many things to protect ourselves from
bad intentions. We have to be careful not to reveal too much of our private
information to people.
However, as the last part of this movie shows, the
Satorare has changed the minds of people sharing such thoughts, because everyone
listening to his sincere feelings toward his grandmother has developed empathy
for him. At the moment, they have accepted the annoying aspects of their
coexistence with the Satorare. Ultimately, I’d say being honest is the only way
to acquire trust and love from others. Being honest from the start has the
potential to make others honest as well, even though you may end up getting
hurt…I like these kinds of people very much who can’t help being honest…They
deserve to be loved definitely.
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