Review of A Wind Named Amnesia (1990)
Kawajiri Yoshiaki (writer), Yamazaki Kazuo (writer-director).
A mysterious wind wipes out all memories from humanity’s minds, reducing them to wordless barbarians. Unguided technology becomes a threat. A serenely mysterious woman travels across the US alongside the main character. She ponders humanity in its natural form, and wonders whether she ought to restore their memories or not.
Philosophical post-apocalyptic science fiction with an entertaining premise. Bad music and misplaced, poorly executed action. The themes are interesting, but poorly presented. In particular, the technologies meant to illustrate philosophical points do not make sense. For example, the Israeli army was already making military use of the Caterpillar D9 in 1990, but that military D9 is not autonomous, and the autonomous tractor/excavator shown in the film is clearly impractical by comparison. With plausible technology, the theme of the film would have shifted to resemble the threat of induced stupidity in Way Station (1963).
References here: “Conundrum” (1992), Japan Sinks: 2020 (2020).