The filmmaker chose to focus on the ways that people remember or distort their wartime experiences, and how they assign different meanings to these historical events and their consequences.
This documentary represents the variety of opinions held in contemporary Japan about the war and its legacies. The interview subjects are exceptional only in the very public way they are expressing and acting on their views.
The documentary presents the historical and institutional point of view in clips from wartime propaganda newsreels, which illustrate the state-sanctioned policies of the day and the prevailing zeitgeist at that time.
The accompanying interviews revive, complement, or contradict these historical rationales, illustrating how the present day mindset can be both drastically different and surprisingly similar.
Yesterday is Now dispenses with a narrator’s voice to encourage viewers to arrive at their own truths by actively experiencing the individual stories and storytellers.