Dreams (1990)

Chishû Ryû: Old Man

Photos 

Quotes 

• Old Man : Some say life is hard, but that is just talk. It is good to be alive, it is exciting!

• Man : Is there a festival today?

  Old Man : No, that's a funeral. You seem to find that odd, but a funeral is actually a joyous occasion. It's good to live well and work hard and then be congratulated on a job well done. We have no temple or priest, so all the villagers gather and carry the deceased to the cemetery on the hill. Of course, it's different if a child or a young person dies. You can't really call that auspicious. But fortunately the people here lead a natural way of life and most die in the order in which they were born. The lady being buried today died peacefully at the age of 99. In fact I must go now and join the procession. Please excuse me. To tell you the truth she was my first love. But she broke my hearty and married another guy.

• Man : You don't have electricity?

  Old Man : We don't need stuff like that. People are suckers for convenience. They think the more convenient the better, and they end up throwing out what's truly good.

  Man : What do you do for light?

  Old Man : We have candles and rapeseed oil.

  Man : Isn't it dark at night?

  Old Man : Night is supposed to be dark. We'd be in trouble if night was as bright as day. I don't want a night so bright that I can't see the stars.

  Man : You have rice paddies... but I see no tiller or harvesting machines

  Old Man : We don't need such things we have cows and horses

  Man : What do you use for fuel?

  Old Man : Firewood mostly. We feel bad chopping down living trees, but there are enough dead ones. We mainly just chop those for firewood and if you make charcoal from the wood just a few trees give as much heat as a whole forest. And cow dung makes good fuel too.

  Old Man : As much as possible we try to live in the natural way like people in the past. These days people have forgotten they're part of nature too. They can't live without nature yet they always meddle with it and destroy it. They always think they can make something better. Especially scientists. They may be smart... but so many of the are completely deaf to the beating of nature's heart. They work so hard inventing things that make people unhappy and then pat themselves on the back for it. Even worse the vast majority of people look at these idiotic inventions as if they were miracles and bow down before them. They don't notice that nature is being lost and they they're heading for extinction. The most import things for human beings are clean air and water and the tress and grass that produce them. But folks pollute everything, and it's lost forever. The polluted air and water go on to pollute people hearts.