[shinesw]

Japan movie shows Aussies killing koalas
Thursday Feb 2 17:46 AEDT
Amid outrage over Japan's whale hunt, a movie has opened in Tokyo depicting Australians slaughtering koalas.

Part musical, part martial arts movie, part thriller, and part slasher comedy, director Minoru Kawasaki's film Executive Koala is Japanese arthouse cinema at its most surreal.

The lead part is that of Tamura, a typical Japanese salaryman who just happens to be a man-sized koala suspected of murdering his human girlfriend.

Tamura's human colleagues are convinced he is guilty.




Only his boss - a large white rabbit with very floppy ears - believes he is innocent while one of the main police informers is a big green frog.

More murders follow before the story climaxes with Tamura explaining a deep-seated anger.

"I remember what your ancestors did 100 years ago. They killed millions of koalas in Australia," he said.

"Every innocent and passive koala had to die for human greed!... This time, I will destroy you."

The convoluted plot is then punctuated by a series of anime still frames showing blond-headed men in Akubra-style hats and with evil grins shooting koalas.

The koalas are bloodied and wounded. The slaughter ends with a mother koala cuddling her baby with a bullet hole through its heart.

The movie follows the adventures of Tamura and his everyday dealings with humans who interact normally with what is after all a giant pantomime animal.

Scenes of a typical Japanese office, all gentle respect and polite interactions, are not interrupted by the presence of a large grey koala in a well-fitting suit.

Fat furry fingers tapping out an SMS message on a mobile phone, don't raise an eyebrow.

The weird factor is enhanced by bad jokes made at Tamura's expense: "He's kind of cute" says an office lady colleague, "but a little hairy for my taste."

Kawasaki's has employed the use of animal characters in a human setting before.

His previous release, The Calamari Wrestler which, like the title suggests, looked at the life of a squid who fights in the ring professionally.

So why did Kawasaki chose a koala as his main character this time?

"The koala is cute and I know that koalas are on the way to extinction so I want viewers to understand this and I want to include the koala's positive and negative characteristics," he said.

Costing around 40 million yen (A$450,000) the film is low budget by Japanese standards and has done the rounds of European and North American film festivals.

It's currently screening at 20 cinemas in Japan.

Kawasaki would like to see it on screens in Australia, "Yes please, release it by all means".

[sanddrareyk]

Sounds good but i'm still waiting for the "Koalas doing kendo" movie

[AttableBewNaw]

This may shock you but...

Koalas are a pest on Kangaroo Island (KwahMengLee should know this, being a Perth boy) and there is a HUGE uproar everytime they want to cull them. Thing is - many moons ago, before white man invaded Australia, perhaps before man in general invaded Australia, Kangaroo Island was flush with koalas, then, before settlement, they all died out. Why? Because they bred like rabbits and ate all the vegetation until there was nothing left to feed on and starved to death. So what did we do in our infinite wisdom? Well, you can't have an Australian Island tourist attraction without koalas... that's right, they reintroduced them into the environment and consequently, Kangaroo Island is screwed.

I'm not exactly one for culling or wholesale slaughter but really, I wanna see this movie (and Koalas Do Kendo, you think AKR would fund that?)

[CesseOveldset]

This may shock you but...

Koalas are a pest on Kangaroo Island (KwahMengLee should know this, being a Perth boy) and there is a HUGE uproar everytime they want to cull them. Thing is - many moons ago, before white man invaded Australia, perhaps before man in general invaded Australia, Kangaroo Island was flush with koalas, then, before settlement, they all died out. Why? Because they bred like rabbits and ate all the vegetation until there was nothing left to feed on and starved to death. So what did we do in our infinite wisdom? Well, you can't have an Australian Island tourist attraction without koalas... that's right, they reintroduced them into the environment and consequently, Kangaroo Island is screwed.

I'm not exactly one for culling or wholesale slaughter but really, I wanna see this movie (and Koalas Do Kendo, you think AKR would fund that?)

that reminds me about this joke i heard long time ago about pack of roaming chihuahuas in mexico bringing down water bufflos.. that's why we don't see water bufflos in mexico now days.. lol

pete

[oxinsnepe]

This may shock you but...

Koalas are a pest on Kangaroo Island (KwahMengLee should know this, being a Perth boy) and there is a HUGE uproar everytime they want to cull them. Thing is - many moons ago, before white man invaded Australia, perhaps before man in general invaded Australia, Kangaroo Island was flush with koalas, then, before settlement, they all died out. Why? Because they bred like rabbits and ate all the vegetation until there was nothing left to feed on and starved to death. So what did we do in our infinite wisdom? Well, you can't have an Australian Island tourist attraction without koalas... that's right, they reintroduced them into the environment and consequently, Kangaroo Island is screwed.

I'm not exactly one for culling or wholesale slaughter but really, I wanna see this movie (and Koalas Do Kendo, you think AKR would fund that?)

We have the same problem here on the US East Coast with deer - most people's only connection with deer is via Disney's vintage animation "Bambie."

Culling in [sub-]urban areas causes an uproar. Fish & Game rules in most states during hunting season are rather draconian. Collisions with deer on the road can be dangerous (even fatal), and are costly (deer have a bad habit of "freeezing" in car & truck headlights). In the suburbs, they are a plague to flower and vegetable gardens as well as ornamental trees and schrubs - I know about this first hand.

Our problem is that we have eliminated the carnivores who were the top of the "food chain" and kept the deer population in check. The net result is an unchecked deer population free to breed at will. Unfortunately roadkill is not enought to keep the population in check - the local response has been an upswing in the turkey vulture population.

I find it irresponsible that we have upset the natural balance, and yet refuse to manage the new situation. There are many complaints about the overpopulation of deer but most also abhor the most efficient method of control (trapping or drugging deer, and relocating them is extremely expensive [don't raise my taxes] requiring much manual labor).

At least those few communities who have decided to cull use professional hunters and the venison is donated to organization who serve the needy.

[jPNy2BP5]

Well, deer are beautiful creatures (as are they all) but venison is extremely tasty and wild venison much sort after by medieval re-enactors (I know I got all my recipes from fellow SCAers in the States). Unfortunately, you can't eat koala. It just aint palatable. I think the perfect, humane solution is castration, then re-release but for some reason there's oppossition to that, too! (Aside from cost, that is. As far as I'm concerned, we made the problem, we should solve it without taking it out on the animals if possible but I totally see your point, R A.) It's one of those trickly issues where my practicality and ethics comes into clash.

[Theorsell]

You can't shoot them anyway, didn't your government take away your guns? What do you do, point your finger at them and say Bang?

[RBJamez]

If you're hired by the government to shoot something, then they generally tend to let you shoot it. Also, not all guns. It's a bit rough if you're a six hour drive one way from anywhere and have to put down an animal or something so farmers still get some dispensation. The firearm shops are still about.

[Zjohkrbi]

My idea of gun control is that I have shotguns, long guns and hand guns and I control them very nicely thank you.

[FUNALA]

There are many complaints about the overpopulation of deer but most also abhor the most efficient method of control (trapping or drugging deer, and relocating them is extremely expensive [don't raise my taxes] requiring much manual labor).

And where are you going to take them? Nobody else wants them either because the same problem now exists over much of their range, so no other state/county/whatever is going to agree to have your problem dumped on their doorstep. As you note it's expensive and it's not very effective either, why are the deer in the suburbs eating somebody's garden anyway? Food. If you dump one out in an area that's already overpopulated and thus short on food within a few days it will be looking for someplace with more forage available. That population pressure is going to drive another deer right back where the one you just spent $10000 trapping and shipping out came from. The only thing that works at a reasonable cost is reducing the population by hunting them.

[Annevecenqp]

You can't shoot them anyway, didn't your government take away your guns? What do you do, point your finger at them and say Bang?

Ever had a dropbear land on your head? Think razor sharp claws on your face with a little bastard giving you the "yup...and I know how to use 'em" look.

Hahaha...you can own rifles in Australia, its just very hard to get automatic/Semi-auto weapons. Pump action shotguns, self loading rifles etc etc are pretty much banned unless you got a real good reason to use them.



************************************************** *

P.s. Koala meat tastes like real crap seeing how much eucalyptus oil is saturated into their body...you gotta soak 'em in vinegar like sharkmeat for a bit.

[Vomazoono]

Pump action shotguns, self loading rifles etc etc are pretty much banned unless you got a real good reason to use them. We use 'em in defense against dropbears. Damn nasty little critters.

[JulieSmithdccd]

For those who dont know Guns were pretty much illegalised after the Port Arthur Massacre in Tasmania, i forget the date, mid 90's perhaps.
I think the killer was called Martin Bryant.

[adultcomicssitedessaa]

For those who dont know Guns were pretty much illegalised after the Port Arthur Massacre in Tasmania, i forget the date, mid 90's perhaps.
I think the killer was called Martin Bryant.

And people stopped killing each other after that. What a wonderful country.

[markkisil]

Funny thing is that they relied on people to surrender their weapons so the ones that did were mainly farmers who used them on the property for hunting and putting down injured animals.

[BoomBully]

And people stopped killing each other after that. What a wonderful country.

I love hunting. And it sucked that me mates had to surrender our semi-auto .22's(rabbits) and pump action shotguns. But let it be said. There are psycho's everywhere and taking away guns wont stop them killing people. But a psycho with a knife and a psycho with an assault rifle, who gets the bigger bodycount?

When I was in Perth we had this High School kid who got dumped by his gf. He came the next day to his class, walked up to her and then stabbed her to death. Now imagine if he had access to firearms like the AR-15.

Funny thing is that they relied on people to surrender their weapons so the ones that did were mainly farmers who used them on the property for hunting and putting down injured animals. Well...its voluntary but as long as your firearm is registered as soon as the amnesty period ends, the cops come knocking on your door. If its on record you have a gun of a banned firearm class, they'll know. Though, if you have unregistered guns...hehehe

Haha, Newbie, when I was up at Flinders Uni...on the hill where the townhouses are...some nights we'd hear the crack of a high powered rifle and not think much of it. Until one night we heard a follow up "brrrrrp! brrrp!" sound, indicating some bastard up there has a Styer AUG in their possesion.

[FEti0TUI]

35 people dead with semi-automatic rifles. Is that a world record?

[AndrewBoss]

To answer my own question....

from http://www.mayhem.net/Crime/murder1.html
Police have widened their investigation to include the killer's possible involvement in five other deaths making Martin a possible serial killer as well as the most lethal gun-toting mass murderer of the Archives.
Not bad for a mentally disturbed wanna-be surfer who slept with a pig.
It's a strong argument for gun-control in Australia. In the US it's OK for people to have guns because they can't shoot straight anyway.

[Annevecenqp]

Well actually no, people have not stopped killing other people.

[Cuccuccaltefe]

Well actually no, people have not stopped killing other people.

or koalas...