The story of the restless spirits in Japan's suicide forest will be brought to the big screen in The Forest, a horror thriller which will be led by Game of Thrones star Natalie Dormer. The Forest is written by David S. Goyer, who wrote the Batman films by Christopher Nolan.
Dormer plays a twin who searches for her missing sister in the forest where she is confronted by the angry spirits inhabiting the forest. The film is shot on location in Aokigahara, which is expected to add to the macabre feel of the film.
The Forest is not the only film about Aokigahara that is set for release this year. Gus Van Sant of the Good Will Hunting fame directed 'The Sea of Trees', which is a more sensitive approach to the myth of the forest. Matthew McConaughey stars as an American who travels to Aokigahara to end his life. He meets a Japanese man played by Ken Watanabe who intends a similar path.
A 14 square mile expanse at the foot of Mount Fuji in Japan, the abundant natural beauty of this forest in the Koshinetsu region is lost to the world as it has become the annual pilgrimage site for those whose intent was to end their life. Until 1988, as much as 100 suicides occurred in this forest on a yearly basis.
According to Yahoo News,105 bodies were found in Aokigahara in 2003 and 108 the following year. All were victims of suicide. In 2010, 200 attempts were made in the forest where 54 succeeded in their goal. Because the numbers are said to increase at each year's end, the government has stopped releasing the statistics in the hopes of breaking this dark association to the forest.
This phenomenon seems to be rooted in history. During the times of drought and famine in the 19th century, elderly relatives were brought to and abandoned in this forest as an act of euthanasia. This practice was known as the 'ubasute'.
Although beautiful and at times poetically referred to as a 'sea of trees' with a boast of ice caverns hidden away in volcanic rocks, the Aokigahara forest is sought after not as a destination of beauty but as the dark keeper of lost souls.
