How was your 1969? A student at the University of Michigan at the time, I grew my hair into a Bob Dylan halo, blew my mind with LSD and got tear-gassed in a demonstration at the U.S. Justice Department that Martha Mitchell famously compared to the Russian Revolution. Am I boring you already?
Born in 1952, writer Ryu Murakami spent that iconic year in high school and, if the film made from his 1987 autobiographical novel, "69," is any indication, was more interested in goofing off and impressing girls than protesting the Vietnam War. Though living next to the Sasebo Naval Base, which was then funneling troops and supplies to Vietnam and was a magnet for demonstrators, the film's roguish hero (Satoshi Tsumabuki) and his pals view the whole '60s thing from a distance, with a mixture of mockery and envy.
They peer curiously through the wire fence surrounding the base, but scamper away at the sight of a uniform. (The thought of actually interacting with these alien creatures called GIs never occurs). Their first big idea for an antiwar action is to toss firecrackers over the fence. They are, in short, less protesters than pranksters. Meanwhile, high school remains high school, where the dramas of adolescent male lust and longing play out in a kind of eternity.
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