"Bashing"
2005
Directed by Masahiro Kobayashi

Nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes in 2005, Masahiro Kobayashi's Bashing is a heartbreaking film based on real-life events. The narration begins after Japanese aid worker Yuko (Fusako Urabe) volunteered to go to wartorn Iraq, gets kidnapped, and is released. We find her back home in Japan, where she gets systematically shunned by the Japanese public for shaming the country. Not only do strangers taunt her, but her former coworkers, friends, and loved ones greet her with unease at best and harassment at worst. To convey this traumatic "reintegration," the director "trades in his usual painterly camera set-ups for a looser, handheld style" (Variety). Japanese with English subtitles.  82 minutes.