| Nankyoku Monogatari | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Koreyoshi Kurahara |
| Produced by | Tomohiro Kaiyama Masaru Kakutani Koretsugo Kurahara Juichi Tanaka |
| Written by | Toshirô Ishido Koreyoshi Kurahara Tatsuo Nogami Kan Saji |
| Starring | Ken Takakura Tsunehiko Watase Eiji Okada |
| Music by | Vangelis |
| Cinematography | Akira Shiizuka |
| Editing by | Koreyoshi Kurahara Akira Suzuki |
| Distributed by | Nippon Herald Films (Japan) Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (USA - dubbed) |
| Release date(s) | July 23, 1983 |
| Running time | 143 min. |
| Country |  Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| IMDb profile | |
Nankyoku Monogatari (南極物語, lit. "South Pole Story", released in the U.S. as Antarctica) is a 1983 Japanese film directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara and starring Ken Takakura. Its plot centers on the February 1958 Japanese scientific expedition to the South Pole, its dramatic rescue from the impossible weather conditions on the return journey, the relationship between the scientists and their loyal and hard-working Sakhalin Huskies, particularly the lead dogs Taro and Jiro, and fates of the 15 dogs left behind to themselves.
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As of 2007, the film is available on DVD in Japan (Japanese subtitles) and Hong Kong (Japanese, Chinese and English subtitles); the original electronic score, by Greek musician Vangelis, of Chariots of Fire fame, is available worldwide on CD-audio as Antarctica. Nankyoku Monogatari inspired the 2006 English language movie Eight Below.
Summary
In February 1958, the Second Cross-Winter Expedition for the Japanese Antarctic Surveying Team rode on the icebreaker Souya to take over from the 11-man First Cross-Winter Expedition. Due to the extreme weather conditions in Antarctica, Souya could not get near enough to the Shouwa Base and they decided not to proceed with the stay-over. The First Cross-Winter Expedition retreated by helicopter, but they had to leave 15 Sakhalin Huskies at the unmanned Shouwa Base. The dogs were left chained at the base, as the team thought that they would be returning, but they did not due to fuel shortages. The team was worried about the dogs, as the weather was extremely cold and only one week of food was available. Nearly a year later, on 14 January 1959, Kitagawa, one of the dog handlers in the first expedition, returned with the Third Cross-Winter Expedition, wanting to bury his beloved dogs. To everyone's surprise, they were greeted warmly at the base by two dogs, Taro and Jiro, brothers who were born on Antarctica. The movie took over three years to make. It was filmed at the northern tip of Hokkaidō.
Name of dogs in the film
- 7 bodies found at the Base, chained: Goro, Pesu, Moku, Aka, Kuro, Pochi, Kuma (monbetsu)
- 6 bodies lost in the glacier: Riki, Anko, Shiro, Jakku, Deri, Kuma (furen)
- 2 found alive: Taro, Jiro
How did they survive?
It is still unknown how and why the brothers survived, because an average husky can only live in such conditions for about one month, but the Antarctic winter lasts much longer. Actually the dogs were sired by Kuma- the sakhalin from Furen and were born in Wakanai,Hokkaido, not Antarctica. When they were found at the base, the food left there was found largely intact too. It was conjectured that they hunted penguins[1] and seals, and even ate the excrement of seal as food. In the movie, the director used the data available, together with his imagination, to reconstruct how the dogs struggled with the elements and survived.
What happened to Taro and Jiro?
The younger brother Jiro died in the fifth expedition in July 1960. His body was made into a specimen and is placed together with the faithful dog Hachikō in National Science Museum at Ueno, Tokyo. The older brother Taro was luckier, who returned to Hokkaido University for his retirement, and died at the age of 15 in 1970. His body was also made into a specimen at Hokkaido University.
Controversies
While the movie was a big hit in Japan, concerns were raised if the dogs that took part in the filming were tortured due to the realism involved. The director answered that the emotions shown by the dogs during the film were painstakingly captured and then edited into the relevant parts. The dogs were carefully anesthetized to recreate the death scenes. The parts where the dogs drowned or fell into the glacier were done in the studio and blue-screened with the actual filming location. The blood on the dogs was fake, also.
Data
- Producer and Director: Koreyoshi Kurahara
- Release Date: 23 July 1983
- Box office: 5.9 billion yen
- Viewership: c. 8.8 million
- Main actor: Ken Takakura
Original score album
The original score to Nankyoku Monogatari was composed, arranged, produced and performed by Greek artist Vangelis. It was recorded at Vangelis' Nemo Studios, in London, UK, by sound engineer Raine Shine. The album was released worldwide (including Japan) as Antarctica.
Track list
- Theme from Antarctica...7:29
- Antarctic Echoes...........5:58
- Kinematic.....................3:50
- Song of White...............5:17
- Life of Antarctica...........5:59
- Memory of Antarctica....5:30
- Other side of Antarctica.6:56
- Deliverance...................4:30
