MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Oracion’ a Soap That Hasn’t Got a Prayer

It doesn’t seem possible, but the Little Tokyo Cinema 1 has followed the canine romance “Shiro and Marilyn” with an even worse animal picture, “Oracion.” At least “Shiro and Marilyn” was unpretentious, whereas “Oracion” is a grandiose and ludicrous soap opera pumped up with a score that even Max Steiner might have thought a bit much.

Oracion , which is Spanish for prayer , is the name of a racehorse, a descendant of the fabled Arabian, King of the Wind. He is purchased by a Tokyo electronics manufacturer (Tatsuya Nakadai) from a humble Hokkaido breeder (Ken Ogata) for the equivalent of $250,000 as a gift to his teen-age daughter Kumiko (Yuki Saito).

Apparently, the manufacturer believes Oracion is sure to win the Japan Derby, thus solving his financial problems--and ignoring the fact that the horse won’t be ready to compete for three years!

At the same time Nakadai begins a battle against a takeover, he coldly refuses to donate a kidney to save the life of his 16-year-old illegitimate son Makoto (Hidetaka Yoshioka), whose mother (Mariko Kaga) was once his mistress.

When daughter Kumiko learns of his existence, she becomes fanatically devoted to Makoto’s care without revealing to him their relationship. She even tries to foist Oracion off on him, but what Makoto needs is a kidney, not a horse. Never once does it occur to her to try to donate one of her own kidneys; she then proves she’s her father’s daughter by presumptuously deciding that an injured Oracion would rather risk losing his life trying to win the big race than to be put out to pasture. In the light of this development you can hardly recommend the film to horse-lovers.

This protracted exercise in moral obtuseness is directed with the utmost sincerity by Shigemichi Sugata, who in turn elicits performances of equal sincerity. There is no pleasure to be had in watching actors of the stature of Nakadai and Ogata mired in such drivel, and it is exceedingly depressing to learn that, like “Shiro and Marilyn,” “Oracion” (Times-rated Mature) was a huge hit in Japan.

A Tora-san festival begins today in Little Tokyo Cinema 2 and will consist of double features drawn from Nos. 11 through 20 in the series.