A Face from the Past

Set in a rural community, specifically a village outside Kameoka near Kyoto, *A Fond Face from the Past* is a thirty-six-minute film that represents Naruse's most moving and direct engagement with the culture of war under militarist restrictions. When a newsreel arrives in Kameoka featuring a local man named Yoichi, it stirs excitement in the community and within Yoichi's family. The film's opening mirrors the newsreel's style, beginning with the same marching music that opens Nippon News, no. 14. This newsreel, released in January 1941—nearly a year before the Pacific War began—features a curious segment in Los Angeles judging context among two hundred Japanese babies. The inclusion of this “found footage” reflects Japanese imperialist ambitions beyond Asia well before the attack on Pearl Harbor.