Trials of an Okinawa Village

       
Director: Shigehiro Ozawa
Year: 1971
Rating: 7.5
There is a saying here that translated into English goes "same same but different". That applies to this film. It is a standard Yakuza film in which the local Yakuza push around and kill civilians until they push too much. Then there is retribution in a blood soaked finale. What sets this film apart from so many ninkyo eiga films is that it is set in Okinawa about ten years after WW2 finished and the war plays a large part in the film. As does the fact that the island is occupied by the American military. Needless to say, the Americans don't come off very well though in truth they are not the real bad guys here. That would be the Yakuza. From the big island. The people in Okinawa don't seem to think much better about them than they do the Americans. If you recall, there were numerous protests against the Americans when this film was being made because a treaty was returning Okinawa to Japan but allowing the USA to keep their military bases there. This has been an ongoing issue for decades. So it is not surprising that the Americans are generally louses.



Yuri Yonamine (Junko Fuji) runs a small trucking business. During the war when the Americans invaded she was a student helping bandage men up in a cave. As the Americans came closer the men were all ordered to either go out to their deaths or commit suicide. Yuri was about to pull the pin on a hand grenade when a soldier stops her and tells her to live. He then charges out shouting banzai. Now she is running the business her parents built before they were killed in the war - everyone has family who died in the war. She visits her old home for the first time in years and finds out that the villagers are in trouble. They borrowed $12,000 to buy seed for a sugarcane field but can't make the interest payments.



But there is treasure in those caves. Armaments and scrap metal from the war that can be sold to pay the debt. Some of it live and dangerous - a dash of Wages of Fear. But the Yakuza Boss Iwamatsu (Minoru Ôki) wants in and uses the people as slave labor. At the same time a man arrives from the Mainland - tall and lanky with shades - a Yakuza looking for a safe place to stay till trouble back home blows over. Played by Bunta Sugawara. He gets involved with his fists and a gun. He was there during the war. He helps her look in the caves for more munitions to help the villagers. The light is dim, they look at each other and realize who they are. The music swells. One of those great little film moments.



Junko is a favorite of mine so it is no surprise that I think she is great here. Dressed for much of the film in fatigues and a cap, she more than holds her own against the bad guys with karate chops, a machine gun and a sword. The only problem with the film is that the finale plays out at night in the sugarcane field and it was too dark to see the blood flowing.