Yasuzo Masumura's Red Angel (1966) is a profoundly
sad work, precariously teetering on full nihilism. At its core it is an exploration of lack of agency
during wartime, when men and women alike are used as things, their
bodies as ammunition, deployed for what is, on an
individual level, ambiguous reasons. Wars are always fought to protect and enforce ideologies, but once it gets filtered down to the boots on the ground all of that grand posturing is thrown to the side and is replaced by only the will to survive.
The story follows Sakura Nishi (Ayako Wakao) a young Japanese nurse who has been sent to the front lines during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Shortly after reaching her assignment she is raped by one of the patients at the hospital. This serves as her grim introduction into the dark world of wartime medicine where even the nurses are not safe from abuse and despair. Nishi is bombarded with death daily, as the field hospital is constantly filled with mortally wounded soldiers. Supplies are short and the doctors resort to amputation to save lives as they do not have the resources to do more complicated surgeries. It is a blessing in disguise that this film is in black-and-white as it would very likely be unbearable to watch in color. Several amputations are shown and the rooms are crowded with blood-splattered buckets full of discarded limbs.
Nishi tries to use her sexuality as some sort of a panacea, a way to give patients peace during their suffering. She
views it as an extension of her being a nurse and perhaps some sort of
guilt alleviation because there is more death and pain than she could
ever deal with in lifetime. It might be tempting to paint Nishi as a martyr, but in reality these are illogical decisions informed by an illogical environment. It’s definitely a provocative character
trait because the roots of it are firmly planted in misogyny.
At one point, Nishi is treating comfort women who are sick with cholera and several soldiers burst into the clinic because they are angry they can't sleep with them. When Nishi tries to scold them they turn their attention onto her and try to rape her as well. This illustrates the low station that women occupied during this time--no matter what position women held they were at the mercy of men's lust.
Red Angel is well shot--a mixture of claustrophobic and chaotic hospital interiors and gruesome outdoor war scenes. Despite the permeating darkness of tone, there are a few fleeting moments of sensuality and eroticism, particularly in the third act with Nishi's interaction with her would-be lover Doctor Okabe (Shinsuke Ashida). The gut-punch ending firmly plants this film into the anti-war realm, a plaintive wail asking "Why did this have happen?!" with no answer in return.
Arrow Edition Extras:
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
- Original uncompressed Japanese mono audio
- Optional English subtitles
- Brand new audio commentary by Japanese cinema scholar David Desser
- Newly filmed introduction by Japanese cinema expert Tony Rayns
- Not All Angels Have Wings, a new visual essay by Jonathan Rosenbaum
- Original Trailer
- Image Gallery
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated booklet featuring new writing by Irene González-López
--Michelle Kisner