Not Forgotten is a moving portrayal of a group of aging war veterans dealing with a number of issues. The most obvious is the brutality of war, and this is dealt with first and in a fairly simple way. By now everyone should be aware that war is an obscenity: taking young healthy men and sending them away to try and kill strangers while being bombed from a distance is a situation in which no-one wins. It is refreshing that this film doesn’t dwell on this, but moves on to the aftermath and corresponding issues.
One of the issues which comes up without being overtly alluded to is that of aging. The veterans are capably portrayed as individuals rather than comic or tragic stereotypes. Age does come to us all, if we don’t die young, and this film touches on the generation gap and the lack of respect currently given to people who have survived into old age with a lifetime’s worth of memories. A standout performance came from Tatsuya Mihashi, seen recently as the aging yakuza boss in Takeshi Kitano’s Dolls. It was also amusing to see the actor who played Ace in Wild Zero as a young man inducted into the corporation using classic brainwashing techniques.
But these veterans have to face a hidden war after surviving combat. Peace and prosperity bring subtler dangers, such as the callous confidence tricksters in the corporation who make profits from the misery of the old and unhappy. The way the veterans deal with this, and the relationship between the old people and the young, refutes the contention of the corporation’s founder that all people are cruel, selfish, and greedy. Ultimately, we see that the solidarity under the brutalities of war can forge the strongest bonds, while the desire for money can bring misery comparable to war. An excellent film.