Caterpillar

Director Koji Wakamatsu is known for tackling taboo subjects head-on. His new film, a rabid indictment of militarist nationalism, deploys Japanese propaganda as wicked satire in a discourse on war crimes, disabled veterans, spousal abuse – and sexual perversion. It is the late 1930s and Japan is embroiled in the second Sino-Japanese War. Lieutenant Kurokawa has committed atrocious crimes against Chinese women. Now he's back in his village, horrifically mutilated, yet designated a living War God. Limbless, scarred, mute, and nearly deaf, the only thing left to him is sex with his long-suffering wife. Repulsed by this new duty, yet clinging to the prevailing idea that the home front is the last line of defense, she does her best for her husband and the Empire. CATERPILLAR is a film of quiet desperation that puts a domestic face on the indescribable miseries caused by war. The gentle buzzing of insects is broken by occasional bursts of radio fanfare or exhortations from newsreels. Finally plagued by recurring nightmares that eat away at his soul, the War God can do nothing more than writhe on the ground. His agony is not only his; it's all of Japan's. (In Japanese with subtitles) – B.B.