Review - Death By Hanging (1968)

A Korean man in a Japanese prison is hanged for committing heinous crimes, but he does not die. Instead, he comes to, but cannot remember who he is or his misdeeds, so he cannot lay claim to his sentence. His jailers are at a loss, not sure whether they should attempt the execution again or pardon the man and call it a day. This is the scenario set forth by Nagisa Oshima in this morbidly funny satire that boasts the devilish premise of a short story and the spare staging of an absurdist play. The wardens flail, argue, try to re-incriminate the prisoner, and finally implicate themselves as the lines are blurred between killer and executioner, guilty and innocent, emotional truth and objective reality. The film's cultural touchstones (Brechtian placards, Freudian psycho-sexuality, the protagonist's Kafka-esque single initial) are decidedly Eurocentric, but the afflictions exposed are pure Japanese, chief among them the xenophobic attitude towards Koreans. Oshima is daring as ever in his choice of taboos to tackle, but here he displays an uncharacteristic restraint, never yielding to the outright barbarism of his more sensational works. Dark but not dire, the tone evokes black comedy masterpieces like 'Dr. Strangelove...' and 'Cul-De-Sac', as do the gorgeous black & white photography and unhinged ensemble performance.