Postcard (2010 film)

Postcard (一枚のハガキ, Ichimai no hagaki) is a 2010 Japanese drama film written and directed by Kaneto Shindō.

The film is set during and after the Pacific War and deals with the effect of the death of soldiers on their families.

It was selected as the Japanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.

Near the end of the Pacific War, Sadazo Morikawa is one of a group of 100 overaged conscripts for the Japanese navy assigned to cleaning duty.

He thinks he will not survive, and asks a comrade, Matsuyama, to return a postcard to his wife, Tomoko, and tell her that he received it before he died.

Earlier, Sadazo is conscripted, and he says goodbye to his parents Yukichi and Chiyo and wife Tomoko.

The film is loosely based on Shindō's experiences during the Pacific War,[5] when, despite being considered poorly fit for military service, he was one of a unit of 100 men conscripted into the Japanese navy, of whom only six survived, solely because of a lottery.