Japanese film site Midnight Eye interviews Tokachi Tsuchiya, director of the documentary A Normal Life, Please! (Futsu no Shigoto ga Shitai).
The film is Tsuchiya’s attempt at fighting for worker’s rights in Japan.
[A Normal Life, Please!] exposes the ugly face of Japanese industry as truck driver Nobukazu Kaikura, a sub-contractor for the Fucox cement haulage company, is pitted against his employers. Working a staggering 552 hours a month without benefits or sick pay, a regime that barely affords him time to wash or eat and which is driving him towards an early grave, Kaikura is encouraged to join his workers union, an act that pits him against his company and their “associate” Mitsuo Kudo, a dubious character with a snarl, tattoos, and an entourage of hired thugs who are prepared to go to any means to keep him in line with company policy.
The film won the award for “Best Documentary” at last year’s 17th Raindance Film Festival in London. Here’s a look at the trailer for the film (in Japanese only).
Midnight Eye has also recently posted its best and worst selections for 2009 from all of the site’s contributors, and is also inviting readers to contribute their favorites in a “Best of 2009″ poll.
Midnight Eye Interview: Tokachi Tsuchiya [Midnight Eye]
