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I DIDN'T WANT to watch it......I WASN'T GOING to watch it.....but I'm so very GLAD I DID. You will cry a river of tears at the end.....but it's worth the sucking hole it leaves in your chest where your heart used to be. Just have a box of tissues and some water handy....and you'll need chocolate...LOTS of it; because without chocolate you will never recover your soul after watching this. In reality this movie should really have 'Tragedy' added to any description of it. It's a haunting film, made all the more heart-wrenching by the fact it's based on a true story; Koichiro Shimada (breath-takingly played by Osawa Takao) was a real man, and this movie was adapted from the novel 'Kaze Ni Tatsu Lion (The Lion Standing in the Wind)' written by Masashi Sada. She also wrote a song about him of the same name (sung at the end of the movie). The song, and therefore the book, were all written based up on love letters he sent whilst he was in Africa. It should also be noted, because I for one am so thankful to him, that the catalyst for this adaptation was Osawa Takao himself. It seems he was so emotionally affected by the song that he really pushed Sada to adapt the song into a novel, and then this beautiful, haunting, heartbreaking film. I am not this clever. I found all this out because the movie just made me want to know more. That, to me at least, is the sign of a wonderful story - when you have to find out more about the characters involved; though for me I was hoping against hope the ending was merely poetic licence and Dr Shimada was still out there. From the movie's timeline I'm guessing we'd be about the same age now (I'm 51 - he'd be a few years older), so for me (who also has very poor health and a lot of respect for the doctors and nurses who help me survive another day) this story was very poignant and heartbreaking on too many levels to count. I normally advise people to avoid tragedies - our every day lives are distressing and merciless enough without the unnecessary addition of 'entertainment' that also renders us puddles of snot of and tears in our own homes. But this movie MUST be the exception to that rule - it's a MUST WATCH; if for no other reason than to show respect and support for the supreme effort this man gave to save lives in a country that was not even his own. As the song says, and remember this song is based on his letters, "I want to live a life without stagnation; I want to be a lion standing in the wind." His last ever letter said - "do me a favour, just be happy." Perhaps we should all take that approach to life; live without stagnation, enjoy the breeze and just be happy...............
