Movie

The Giant

Name: The Giant
Released: 1938

1938 • Unknown

Woke Score

1.4

out of 10

Plot

Japanese adaptation of LES MISERABLES. The last film of director Itami took inspiration from Les Miserables. Transpiring during the Southwestern War of 1877 in Japan, which was the last civil war in the country, a criminal escapes prison only to be found by a monk. The criminal decides to turn a new leaf based on their conversation and goes on to become a town's mayor. He hears news of a mistaken arrest and identity. The revelation of truth is the start of a series of miseries.

Overall Series Review

The Giant (Kyojinden) is a 1938 Japanese period drama that transposes the classic humanist and anti-authoritarian themes of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables to 19th-century Japan during the Meiji Restoration. The plot follows a convict who escapes prison, finds moral redemption through a conversation with a monk, and transforms his life to become a respected town mayor. The central conflict arises when his past identity threatens to unjustly condemn another man, forcing the protagonist to choose between his hard-won prosperity and transcendent moral duty. This is a story centered on universal themes of mercy, justice, and the power of individual moral choice over the rigidity of the state, typical of its classic source material. The period setting, the focus on a criminal's personal redemption, and the portrayal of traditional family structures inherently exclude all major modern 'woke' tropes. The critique is aimed at systemic social injustice and governmental authority during a militaristic period, not at the entire civilization or its fundamental identity.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics1/10

The narrative's central conflict revolves around the moral choice of a man and the failures of the legal system, focusing on character and universal justice over any immutable group characteristics. The Japanese cast in a Japanese historical setting makes any modern notion of 'race-swapping' or 'vilification of whiteness' entirely irrelevant. Characters are defined by their merit, poverty, or moral actions.

Oikophobia2/10

The film adapts a Western novel to a Japanese historical setting (the Meiji-era Satsuma Rebellion), which is a cultural domestication rather than an act of civilizational self-hatred. It carries an anti-authoritarian sentiment, criticizing a harsh, militaristic governing system of its era, which is a critique of a specific regime or legal institution, not a wholesale demonization of the nation, culture, or ancestors.

Feminism1/10

The female characters, modeled on Fantine and Cosette, are defined by their motherhood, sacrifice, and the need for protection and paternal guidance. The central female figure is a child and later a young woman, and the male protagonist's arc celebrates protective masculinity and the formation of a nurturing, if unconventional, family. The 'Girl Boss' or anti-natalist tropes are non-existent.

LGBTQ+1/10

As a 1938 historical drama, the film centers on a convict's redemption and the traditional family unit formed by the protagonist and his adopted daughter. The narrative contains no elements of modern sexual or gender ideology, centering instead on normative structure and privacy of sexuality.

Anti-Theism2/10

The protagonist's moral transformation from criminal to righteous mayor is directly catalyzed by the mercy and kindness of a monk or priest figure. This spiritual encounter is presented as the moment of transcendent moral conversion, framing faith and moral law as a positive source of strength and redemption, which directly opposes the notion of anti-theism.