Go onto your dreams!

One Wonderful Sunday (Japanese, 1947)

The theme in this movie is somewhat similar to that of Kurosawa's 'Stray Dog'. Set in the post WW2 Japan where poverty is the order of a day, it narrates a day a couple who have big dreams for their future together spend a Sunday together, the only day they meet in a week before they head different directions at the end of the day for their respective job requirements.

It is an extremely slow moving movie but the pace is essential to aptly portray the trying times of the war ravaged country. People are generally poor. The only short cut way to quick success is black marketeering. The law abiding conscientious ones had to slog it out with their measly paying jobs.
Isao Numasaki, a disillusioned war veteran, is an obvious victim of PTSD. He has no faith in humanity, is frustrated with the system and has no desire in life. His fiancé and childhood girlfriend, Chieko Nakakita, seem to be the only good thing that is happening in his life. But even thinking of their future together makes our hero morose. That is where his ever smiley fresh faced fiancé comes in. She goes at great length to cheer him up.
With limited cash at their disposal (35yen) , the couple try to maximise their time together. Even in dire straits, there is nothing wrong to dream the wildest dream, Cheiko reassures a gloom filled hero. "Dreams don't fill the stomach" he replies.
I think he feels that he does not get the respect that he should be accorded. After all he defended the country!
They visit a show house even though they cannot afford it. And Cheiko fantasises the home arrangements. Isao then indulges in a baseball game with the lads by the street. Again, they try to forget their gloom by getting a cheap ticket to the symphony orchestra. Unfortunately, their hopes were dashed by the black market ticket sellers who bought all the tickets and inflated their price, which was unaffordable to our couple.
Frustrated, they wonder around. Isao managed to convince Cheiko to drop in at his leaky depilated rented room with private intentions on his mind. The timid Cheiko, however, is hesitant.
They have an intervention on their deepest worries.
At the climax of the movie, they act out as conductors of a symphonic orchestra in an abandoned amphitheatre.
In the end, they realise that having a dream is useful. It gives them purpose in life. There is a goal upon which they can put their energy and effort into to unshackle themselves from the rut of poverty and hopelessness.
There are many political innuendos in the film. The snobbishness of the upper classes, the swipe at the leaders, a sneer at our social system, the Westernisation of Japan, inclusion of American culture is all out in the open for our consumption. Unlike, Thulabaram and many of the Tamil movies that overdramatise and depict a negative picture of poverty, here the maker shows dignity in being poor and that hope is all there. Anyway, he tells us to make the best of what is available in the present time.