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History records the efforts of great persons who stood up for what they believed in, heroes who fought for their countries. Of the sacrifices they made and the courage it took to make them. Of the chances they took and the damning consequences of failure. History records these great people. But what of other people equally as great who sacrificed not necessarily their blood or the lives of others to take us into new eras, but of sacrifices nonetheless in a world that passes with the blink of an eye, or is saved with the rearrangement of magnetic particles on a tape?
Dawn of a New Day is the story of a man, Yuji Kagaya, whose dream and courage brought the world one more step further into the shared information age. An age where moments no longer had to pass with barely a memory, but recorded to share with others. His vision changed use from word-of-mouth slaves, to a unified standard of forever-memory individuals.
In the early half of the 1970s, Nippon Victor launches its VHS (Video Home Standard) player despite strong opposition from the Ministry of Trade and Industry and extreme uncertainty that anyone will even buy their product. Nonetheless the project goes forward in secret from even its own company. The real problem is, can it work?
The VHS revolutionalized the way the world watches TV, but it was a birth that never was. Inspiring yet heartachingly moving and painful as we watch while failure after failure and time squeeze the life out of the project. Despite the fact that the outcome is known, it is still a fantastic watch. It is literally current history, a time when many of us were alive or just born. It is without a doubt, a welcome nostalgic look at that which is so common and even taken for granted by the younger generations who came after. (Do you remember the day your father brought home the family's first VHS or Betamax?)
Starring the Everyman brilliance of veteran actor Toshiyuki Nishida (the genius behind the Diary of a Fishin' Fool -- Tsuribaka Nishi -- and countless films and televisions stories including a cameo as a hardened samurai in the drama based on Musashi Miyamoto's life) as the man behind the VHS, we are treated to, and moved by an unforgettable tear-jerking performance. Viewers will immediately identify with Yuji as he struggles against bureaucracy and those who merely wish to use him as a pawn. Always having considered himself a timid man, he struggles not only with outside forces, but himself as well. Does he have what it takes to do this one last thing before he retires? Or will just become another retired salaryman of the machine that would become Japan INC.?
At first glance one would not think that a movie about the building of a video recorder could be interesting, but the story pulls you in, not only because of the excellent acting, period style sets and the direction, but because this was a real part of many people's lives. I remember specifically having a Betamax in the home, and the video wars that ensued. Friends at school were divided between the camps that had Beta and the camps that had VHS. It was a real part of our lives that affected everything. It was a turning point in history. Who knows what would have happened if VHS hadn't come out on top. How different would our technology be today? How would it have affected other industries and sectors? So as this is the story of how not just one man changed a video tape format, but how we all came to embrace it. It is a part of ourselves.
Included with this already stunning DVD package is a priceless memento copy of the pamphlet of the first VHS ever marketed, the HR3300. A close up photo shows all the dials, buttons and switches that were needed to operate the system, and on the back, a photo of the video tapes. A remarkable piece of history.
Shot in wide-screen, 16:9 format. Optional English subtitles. 108 minutes.
