Genres

TV Movie , War , Drama

Duration

139 min

Director

Katsuo Fukuzawa

Rating

8.3

Release Date

September 22, 2008

I Want to Be a Shellfish

Original title: 私は貝になりたい

Synopsis

1944, in the depths of World War II. Toyomatsu Shimizu is a completely typical barber from a remote sea-side town who lives frugally but happily with his wife Fusae and their five-year-old son. Eventually, though, the army beckons and he is drafted. One day an officer on the battle-field orders him to kill a captive U.S. soldier. Although Toyomatsu lacks the spirit to kill the man, and only wounds him in the arm, the victorious U.S. soldiers will not accept this, and Toyomatsu is arrested and tried as a war-criminal. And he receives the cruelest sentence possible...