Oe introduces Kogito Choko, a writer in his early sixties, as he rekindles a childhood friendship with his estranged brother-in-law, the renowned filmmaker Goro Hanawa. Goro sends Kogito a trunk of tapes he has recorded of reflections about their friendship, but as Kogito is listening one night, he hears something odd. I'm going to head over to the Other Side now, Goro says, and then Kogito hears a loud thud. After a moment of silence, Goro's voice continues: But don't worry, I'm not going to stop communicating with you. Moments later, Kogito's wife rushes in; Goro has jumped to his death....

Japan na kraju Drugog svetskog rata. Ranjeni americki pilot pada u zabaceno planinsko selo, seljani ga hvataju, a o njemu brinu seoska deca. Crni Amerikanac postaje ljubimac dece u selu, oni se zblizavaju sa njim, ali, posle nesporazuma, pilot kidnapuje decaka - glavnog junaka, a decakov otac ubija crnca. Potresna prica o tragicnosti rata u do sada nepoznatom miljeu siromasnog japanskog sela. Kenzaburo Oe je dobio Nobelovu nagradu za knjizevnost 1994. godine, a za novelu Lovina" je u ranoj mladosti dobio najvecu japansku knjizevnu nagradu Akutagava.""

The Silent Cry follows two brothers who return to their ancestral home, a village in densely forested Western Japan. After decades of separation, the reunited men are each preoccupied by their own personal crises. One brother grapples with the recent suicide of his dearest friend, the birth of his disabled son, and his wife's increasing alcoholism. The other brother sets out to incite an uprising among the local youth against the disintegration of the community's culture and economy due to the imposing franchise of a Korean businessman nicknamed the "Emperor of the Supermarkets." Both...