Hashire Melos (Movie)

Many of the same people worked on it and both are hidden gems 

Even if they are examples or two different times, both have a similar essence. Both movies are epical crusades where the true form of a hero takes form to revive the hope on humanity... 

As much as I approve of how Aoi Bungaku adapted long forgotten Japanese novels that may very well hold more meaning now than they did when they were first wrote, my biggest disappoint was how 'Run Melos!' WASN'T adapted. Instead of just adapting THE story of ultimate trust/faith set in Italy during the time of the Romans, instead the main focus was switched to some sort of yaoi-lite top/bottom pairing in 1950's Japan as some four-eyed abandoned crybaby attempted to re-write the story to work as a play. The actual novel that was supposed to be adapted played a supporting role. HUH!? Luckily, there exists a little known and criminally underrated full movie version of the story, which was released in 1992. It's everything the cliff notes version in Aoi Bungaku could've been. The premise of the story is this: an unwitting country bumpkin manages to get himself sentenced to death and makes a stay of execution plea so he can see his sister married and return within three days. Someone else has to step in to risk sacrificing themselves in case he doesn't return. And so ensues the ultimate test of trust: will the lead return, knowing he's running to his death, or let his stand-in die for him?  read more