My Burning Love

My Burning Love<br>Waga Koi Wa Moenu - 2003-04-22<br>Director: Kenji Mizoguchi, Japan, 1949, Black and White, 84 minutes. This extraordinary film, astonishingly feminist and even radically feminist, had nearly been lost but was restored with government assistance. The story of the film takes place in the 1880s, a decade embroiled in social upheavals in Japan and its struggles with European culture, a period in which the modernization of Japan played a significant role. It was during this time that liberalism and feminism were newly born in the era of 'Meiji Restoration'. One of Mizoguchi's methods, which possesses a universal bluntness, is manifested here by portraying the main conflict of this period. That is, by depicting the efforts of a young and determined woman who steps out of her home to participate in the tumultuous political life of the crisis-ridden capital, Tokyo, to experience life. Throughout the film, we see this female protagonist confronting bourgeois morality and the traditional traps of Japanese society regarding 'chastity' and 'respect' in love, casting aside traditional concerns and embracing the future with open arms. The film concludes with a simple image of two women forming a mystical bond that encompasses politics and transcends it, reaching friendship and understanding with each other.