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Karafuto 1945 Natsu Hyōsetsu no Mon

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Karafuto 1945 Natsu Hyōsetsu no Mon
Directed byMitsuo Murayama
Written byToshio Kaneko (book)
Takeo Kunihiro (screenplay)
StarringTerumi Niki
Yumiko Fujita
Kawai Okada
Keiko Torii
Hiromi Kurita
Music bySeiji Yokoyama
Release date
  • August 17, 1974 (1974-08-17)
Running time
120 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Budget500 million yen

Karafuto 1945 Natsu Hyōsetsu no Mon (樺太1945年夏 氷雪の門), also called Gate of Ice, is a 1974 Japanese film based on the Soviet Union's invasion of Karafuto during the Soviet–Japanese War near the end of World War II. The movie is set in Maoka (present day Kholmsk), and the story is based on the deaths of nine women who worked in the postal telegraph office in the city. Twelve women worked in the office, and on August 20, 1945, nine of them committed suicide.[1]

Plot

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The film is set in Karafuto after the radio broadcast of the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War. On August 15, 1945, Soviet forces invaded Karafuto. The Japanese population began to evacuate while remaining Imperial Japanese Army personnel, heavily outnumbered, slowed the Soviet advance for as long as they were able. The Soviets engaged in widespread kidnapping, rape, and murder of any civilians who were unable to escape. On August 20, the postal telegraph office in Maoka suspended operations and nine of the twelve telephone operators committed suicide by taking potassium cyanide to avoid capture by Soviet troops.[2]

Pressure by the USSR

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Despite the film's release in many nations, including the Soviet Union, Moscow argued that the film defamed the Soviet Union and the Soviet people and would only make people more hostile towards the USSR.[3] The movie was eventually banned in the Soviet Union after two weeks' distribution in Hokkaidō and western Kyūshū. On August 25, 2008, a Japanese television drama was aired called Kiri no Hi, which was based on the same historical events. However, the television drama caused less of a political uproar in Russia than Karafuto 1945 Summer Hyosetsu no Mon, due to the movie's insistence that it was a work of "fiction" and because it did not focus on the Red Army's crimes and brutality but instead talked about a wish for world peace.

Re-release

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On July 17, 2010, when the film was almost 36 years old, it was released in various theatres worldwide.[3][4]

Original cast

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "『樺太1945年夏 氷雪の門』主演二木てるみさんインタビュ". シネマジャーナル. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  2. ^ "樺太1945年夏 氷雪の門". Kinema Junpo. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  3. ^ a b ソ連政府の圧力により公開中止!?日本人少女たちの悲劇を描いた幻の映画、36年ぶりに公開 Archived 2011-07-12 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese)
  4. ^ "樺太1945年夏 氷雪の門". Agency for Cultural Affairs 映画情報システム. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
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