Neglect, quiet but most cruel family violence
Neglect, quiet but most cruel family violence
  • 홍진아
  • 승인 2019.12.02 12:38
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Ever since I was in high school, I would think about the impact of family background. Family background never could be ignored. Because, thinking about family background and how it effect me and my acquaintance, was very big. Because family background can change self-regard, personality, thoughts, grade as well as success or failure of one person. Because of this trouble, I have been interested in sociology since high school and watched some movies related with this area. And the movie called “Nobody Knows” remained in my memory the most. This movie’s background is ‘Sugamo Child Neglect Incident’ which occurred in a house in Toshima District, Tokyo, Japan in 2008. ‘Sugamo Child Neglect Incident’ is an incident that a mother of four children runs away from home with leaving her children in the house alone. Like this movie’s title, no one knew about this incident before this came out in the news and stir up controversy.

One of the reasons why I felt so sad throughout this movie was because of the eldest son, Akira. At the age of 12, Akira had to take care of all the responsibilities of his irresponsible parents. He shopped, cooked, paid taxes and took care of the children. 'Are you going to have dinner tonight?' 'What's the menu?' 'I'm going to make curry.' The conversation takes place between Akira and his mother. I was surprised to hear this conversation. Because Akira said as if it were too natural to prepare dinner himself. This naturalness and familiarity seems to be the real reason why I was sad.

Could I have done those things when I was 12? I don't think it was possible. And after few days, his mother left home, leaving the children behind with some money. Akira must have had many difficulties living only with the money that her mother left behind. Also, it would have been really frustrating when he had to deal with his sister's death, who fell off of her chair and died without the help of an adult. Being a 20-year-old is too much for me to take charge of my life, and I can not imagine how heavy the responsibility of Akira who was only 12 must have to take care of three of his young siblings. I was sad that Akira had no one to lean on, and his wound kept getting worse. And I thought that he couldn't feel his emotion anymore.

There was a scene that was the most shocking in this movie. Before his mom went to start a family with a new man, Akira had a meal with her in a restaurant. In the scene, she scolded Akira, saying, "Can't I just be happy?" and "Your dad (Akira dad) is the worst.". Akira could not say anymore when he heard it. I think Akira’s mother is selfish for saying “Can’t I just be happy?”. I think a mother who completely ignores the happiness of her own children shouldn’t have a mother’s qualifications. It is not the children's fault that Akira's mother's life was miserable. His mother's attitude denied his birth and made him feel guilty for ruining his mother’s happiness.

Those children were "left alone" by their parents, people around them and the country. The mother left the children alone for her own happiness. The part-timers at the convenience store offered no help, but only offer them food or just suggested them to go to an orphanage. The landlord also gave no help. Many others knew the children were in trouble, but no one but a friend named Saki helped them. There are children who are dying and suffering around us, too. But people do not give them help or pay attention to them. physical and verbal violence are not the only violence. "leaving them alone" is also a quiet but cruel violence. Wouldn't it be our society's duty to solve these social problems?

There are still many children around us who suffer from various types of family violence. There are countless kinds of physical and verbal violence and neglect. I think that a domestic problems could lead to a big social problem. It is not easy to get involved in a government or state because family problems are private and sensitive issues. But I think avoiding major problems such as family violence will only make children's lives painful and will not solve the fundamental problems of the society. Currently, our society has a system such as family violence phone calls and child protection centers. But there are still a great lack of social attention to children who are suffering from family violence. We all need our attention and efforts to make a happy society. I hope that this movie review can make a society where people will pay attention and help the neglected children.


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