This is a very powerful film about the plight of four siblings abandoned by their mother in modern urban Japan. It could as easily be set in any "industrialized" nation. The acting by the four child protagonists is superb, utterly convincing, with nothing overdone and the viewer left to feel and express all the wrenching emotions for which the characters themselves have little time or energy. Also shown plainly, though I'm sure it will be ignored by almost all viewers, is that the worst of the difficulties in survival experienced by these young people and their devastating consequences, are the results not of their lack knowledge, ingenuity or rationality, but of the cruel and arbitrary restrictions placed upon them because of their age. How different would have been the course of events if only these four had had access to the educational, economic, social and even medical services otherwise available to everyone, and not been reduced to the status of fugitives for the "crime" of living on their own!
Review of Nobody Knows
