Counters (2018)

Tepid documentary, worthwhile topic

A documentary about anti-racist counter-protesters, or more precisely the slightly more combative internal section of the Counters, the Otokogumi. It's interesting, and the figures featured are somewhat reminiscent of the kind of personalities we saw among the yellow jackets.

Overall, however, it feels like both the director and the people on screen are fairly apolitical, which leads, on the one hand, to a somewhat silly presentation reminiscent of a YouTube video, which dilutes the importance of the subject matter, and, on the other hand, to a parallel being drawn between the ultra-racist leader and the noble struggle of the Counters, as if the two were equally valid.

This is all the more so because we have to dissect the powerful contradictions of Takahashi, who is very repugnant in certain respects (the gift he gives to his friend's daughter, his visits to the Yasukuni shrine); the substance of the message can become a little murky at times. The moment of gathering and sharing that we see towards the end, with a left-wing woman (one of the few female characters in the film), intrigued me and I would have liked to know more about these meetings with this lady. I found that there was very little diversity in this group, particularly the absence of women and people of color, the latter being completely absent. That said, I believe that the protests and counter-protests are aimed more at Japanese-Koreans and Japanese-Chinese.

There is also something of a feel-good drama happy ending with the enactment of the new law at the end, which rings a little hollow when you consider how little use this law is. That said, I'm certainly not throwing stones, as I wouldn't have the courage of any of these people and I applaud any social struggle. It's mainly the cinematic aspect that I'm commenting on. This makes me want to explore these topics a little more.

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