There Was a Father

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There Was a Father (1942)

A widowed high school teacher finds that the more he tries to do what is best for his son’s future, the more they are separated.

Movie|Not Rated|1 hr. 26 min.|

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Title	There Was a Father (1942)
Runtime	1 hr. 26 min.
Director	Yasujiro Ozu
Country	Japan
Studio	Criterion Collection
Genres	Drama \| Foreign Language
Description	Yasujiro Ozu’s frequent leading man Chishu Ryu is riveting as Shuhei, a widowed high school teacher who finds that the more he tries to do what is best for his son’s future, the more they are separated. Though primarily a delicately wrought story of parental love, There Was a Father offers themes of sacrifice that were deemed appropriately patriotic by Japanese censors at the time of its release during World War II, making it a uniquely political film in Ozu’s body of work.