The Sun’s Burial (1960)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Sun’s Burial (1960) – N. Oshima

The title refers to the Rising Sun’s funeral – in other words, the demise of Japan as a place of dignity.  In his third film (after the success of Cruel Story of Youth, also 1960), director Nagisa Oshima shows us the degradation and depravity of Osaka’s post-war slums, the epitome of the fallen nation.  We first become acquainted with Hanako who is collecting blood and selling it at a profit by day and prostituting herself by night.  She works with the two local gangs, the main one led by Ohama and an up-and-coming new gang led by Shin that has to keep on the move to prevent being wiped out by Ohama.  She runs the blood business on the side but is soon joined by an older homeless man known only as “The Agitator” who constantly voices his concerns about the fall of the Japanese Empire (but later buys ID cards to sell to incoming illegal immigrants). Two young kids join Shin’s gang only to find themselves increasingly in trouble; the quiet and naïve one, Takeshi, eventually falls in with Hanako.  Violence, and sexual violence, are part of the way of life here and Oshima doesn’t shy away from depicting this everyday brutality (verbal or physical).  It must have been very shocking at the time. However, there are far too many characters to keep track of and their sad fates barely register in the midst of the squalor and despair. Oshima may have wanted us to take in the forest without caring too much for the individual trees.  Even so, his stylish cinematographic eye makes itself known through ugly but perfectly composed shots, good use of colour (that blood!), and an unflinching willingness to show us the underbelly.