| Baby Elephant Story: The Angel Who Descended to Earth | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Ryô Kinoshita[1] |
| Screenplay by | Nobuo Yamada[2] |
| Based on | Faithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchiya |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Shōhei Andō[2] |
| Edited by | Yoshitami Kuroiwa[2] |
| Music by | Kentarō Haneda[2] |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Toho[2] |
Release date |
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Running time | 106 minutes[2] |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Box office | ¥400 million[3] |
Baby Elephant Story: The Angel Who Descended to Earth (Japanese:子象物語 地上に降りた天使,Hepburn:Kouzou monogatari: Chijou ni orita tenshi) is a 1986Japanesechildren'sdrama film directed by Ryô Kinoshita[1] and written by Nobuo Yamada.[2] The film was adapted from the 1951 short storyFaithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchiya.
Baby Elephant Story starsTetsuya Takeda in the lead role, as well as Kurara Haruka, Midori Hagio,Toshiyuki Nagashima andNobuyo Ōyama. It was theatrically released on July 26, 1986 byToho.[2] The film was a box office success inJapan.[3]
Tokyo Fujimi Zoo (based on the real-lifeUeno Zoo) is home to two belovedIndian elephants. Sakura, the zoo’s female elephant, gives birth to a daughter. Elephant caretaker Shota Tanabe (Tetsuya Takeda) names her Hanako. Shortly afterwards, Shota’s wife Setsuko (Midori Hagio) gives birth to a son. As Hanako grows, she quickly becomes a favorite of the local schoolchildren, including Shota’s son. But their happiness does not last, as the arrival of thePacific War brings hardship and rationing in its wake. The situation reaches a breaking point whenthe military orders theeuthanasia of animals in zoos across Japan, including Fujimi’s prized elephants. Shota is devastated by this news. Determined to save what he can, Shota convinces Major Keiji Okamoto (Toshiyuki Nagashima), a former classmate, to commence an operation to secretly evacuate Hanako bytrain.
The film was inspired by Yukio Tsuchiya's short storyFaithful Elephants, originally published in 1951 and later republished inillustrated form in 1970 (first published in theEnglish language in 1979 asPoor Elephants).Faithful Elephants was marketed as a true story,[4] but contains multiplefictionalized elements.[5] For instance, the book claims that the Japanese Army requested that every zoo in Japan poison their large or dangerous animals because they were worried that the animals would escape and harm the general public ifbombs were detonated nearby.[5] In truth, the recently installed governor ofTokyo,Shigeo Ōdachi, decided in August 1943 (a time when there was little threat of bombing in the country) to slaughter the animals and use their deaths aspropaganda. His order was carried out in Ueno Zoo with unusual and unnecessary cruelty by acting zoo director Saburō Fukuda.[5] There have been several critiques of the author's use of fictionalized story elements.[5][6][7]
Screenwriter Nobuo Yamada was notable for writing several films for directorKoreyoshi Kurahara.Yoshitami Kuroiwa was a renowned editor who had worked on such films asThe Sword of Doom andThe Return of Godzilla, among many others. Cinematographer Shōhei Andō had earlier shotEnrai andMuddy River, and would later serve as co-cinematographer onHiroshima for directors Koreyoshi Kurahara andRoger Spottiswoode.
The elephant transport scene was filmed with cooperation from theOigawa Railway inShizuoka Prefecture.
The film's score was composed byKentarō Haneda.[2] It consists of 17 tracks.[8] Its theme song is "Angel Who Descended to Earth" (地上に降りた天使, Chijō ni Orita Tenshi), performed by Mari Mizutani, one of the film's stars. The soundtrack was distributed onCD andvinyl formats byVictor Entertainment.[8]
Baby Elephant Story was theatrically released on July 26, 1986 by Toho.[2] It grossed ¥400 million at the Japanese box office.[3] The film was later released onVHS andLaserDisc.[9]
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