Labor exploitation film gave Matsuda vigor

TOKYO —Acting in the film ‘‘Kanikosen’’ (Crab-Canning Boat) about a fight against labor exploitation gave up-and-coming actor Ryuhei Matsuda vigor, he said during a recent promotional event. ‘‘That film made me emotional and made me feel I could do anything,’’ the 25-year-old said during the event also joined by other actors including Hidetoshi Nishijima and the director, who goes by the name Sabu.

Matsuda plays the role of a laborer on a crab cannery boat that incites other workers aboard to rise up against exploitation in the film inspired by the novel of the same name released in 1929 by writer Takiji Kobayashi. Matsuda also expressed sentiment that labor-related problems of today could be more serious than those at the time Kobayashi released the book depicting the hardship of crab-canning workers on a boat in the North Sea. ‘‘I think it might be possible that today’s laborers are suffering greater pain as it is hard for them to find a clear enemy to beat’’ in a complicated economy-led society, unlike the workers in Kobayashi’s novel, Matsuda said.

Japan Today

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