Hello, this is Amu from IFCA Tokyo team.
Please note that this may be a spoiler for those who haven’t watched this movie yet!  

I knew about this incident (that this movie is about) from an event that I joined six months ago. So I watched it knowingly what had actually happened, but I could see more clearly what the environment he lived in.

“I love my mother”
– Even after he was arrested and sentenced to12 years in prison, and despite the environment he spent his time.

I could very much relate to these words.
I also spent my life with my mother, where I was abused verbally and physically day to day. But even now, six years after I was taken into custody at the age 15, I cannot blame her. And I love my mother. People can put blame on parents, but then I would ask them why they didn’t save my mother when she was in trouble.

All I could think about during the movie was how to save this mother and son. Even though there were many times people offered them helping hands, they rejected. I think it shows their wounds were so deep. I felt that they were suffering from betrayal of their expectations and trust, over and over; in the end they could no longer expect or trust.  

There are actually many children in the same situation as this young man who unfortunately murdered his grandparents. It looks different but they are the same in essence. These children are not aware that their environment is different from others.  They don’t know how to escape. And sometimes they are afraid of the good intentions of others.

So many times in the film, this mother said “it’s my child, so…!”

I wonder “so…” what?
Children are not the property of parents. What does it mean to raise a child? There was only one time in this movie that this mother was violent to him- she slapped him once. I think this movie makes us think what “abuse” truly means.
I hope that 12 years in prison where he is provided with meals and books will heal the wounds he received from his mother and society.

I’d love to see a society where people who were hurt can receive care, and where everyone living today have some room for others and listen to them.