Asian Retrospective - "Vengeance is Mine" review

"It's gonna be damn cold in the clink" mutters the reprehensible Iwao (Ken Ogata in his finest performance) as the police car travels through the bleak snowy terrain. Oblivious that he has been captured as he is calm and concerned only of his well being and thus begins the loosely true tale of this clinical sociopath and serial killer. This prolific account is told with utter detachment by one of the true masters of Japanese cinema Shohei Imamura, and it is told during the cynical post-war period of Japan, defining the new wave (1979) by portraying movies that critically scrutinize the country.

 

The first point of contention is found within the title "Vengeance is Mine" which does not describe the protagonist and his murder spree, but instead suggests a holistic approach; a personal attack against Japan itself utilising Iwao as a catalyst and symbol of defamation.

 

The film continues with the facts, as Iwao smugly grins at his interrogators they trace his path through Japan and the murders that occurred throughout the short years. This overlay of exposition leads to a flashback of a murder somewhere in his timeline. He drives calmly in a pick-up truck with two other labourers. They split up and he almost immediately murders the one he is partnered with in a field. There is no rhyme, reason or provoke and his immense audacity shows as he bludgeons him to death in the broad daylight. His extreme detachment from feelings or empathy wholly evident as his vicious attack ceases. Perhaps this was an urge as he retains his calmness quickly and looks upon his actions with morbid curiosity. He runs back to a tree and samples some fruit, spitting it back onto the ground in disgust; in fact this fruit is a symbol of Japan and its values. He drives with his other labourer and in no time at all brutally murders him also.

 

The investigation continues, the bodies are found and the interrogation in the present continues to unravel Iwao. A flashback goes to his distant past, a case of Christian prejudice on a small island as his family is forced to give up their fishing boats for the Japanese army. They are being treated unkindly and Iwao as a child rebels against this and attacks the captain while his meek father looks on. In fact, as a child, during his brief time in war and as an adult it is clear that Iwao has always rebelled against the norms. His chequered past continues to unravel. It is a strict Christian upbringing but he ignores all of it, hates his father and worries his mother to death. Even for his family he feels nothing as he engages in criminal and lurid acts.

 

But there are no innocents in Vengeance is Mine. His father is a hypocrite and tries to deny his feelings for Iwao's reluctant partner. She also seduces him and Iwao is unfazed by this, but there are some disturbing images of the father and his partner's relationship in which an animal is tortured and killed by them and this flash suggests that evil is inherent and ultimately everywhere. This bizarre love triangle continues for awhile, especially after Iwao is released from jail, his time there is not described, but the initial reasons are petty larceny. It seems his actions are degrading to worse crimes.

 

Throughout the flashbacks more people are murdered; some merely to assist him practically with shelter and money. The interrogation continues and it is revealed at some stage in his past Iwao pretended to be a professor; the narrow view of the streets close in as he walks purposely towards a family inn which is similar to the one his actual family runs. He stays at the inn, the caretaker is the grandmother of a girl that also works there; both of them are morally ambiguous. Dodgy dealings and illicit sex are the norm here and Iwao fits in nicely. His vicious streak seems long gone and he is now a humble but faux educated man.

 

It is terrifying how his persona changes. His chameleon like attitude throughout his life has been ultimately refined and he is an effective con artist but at this stage the careless trail he has left behind has him wanted by the authorities. His face now recognisable by the common mass, he continues to hide in the inn and changes his appearance and clothes as suitably as he can.

 

Vengeance is Mine suggests that there is a sociopath in everyone and that even Japan itself is sociopathic. The inn owners are filthy opportunists; the daughter engages in sex with Iwao, the mother, hidden, watches, she even admits to having murdered before.

It is not long before Iwao is recognised, by a prostitute no less, and his cold heart emerges again, in the ultimate sociopathic act before the film's conclusion Iwao proves himself to be truly psychotic and not at all fitting for the human race.

But perhaps the real view that Imamura suggests is that Iwao's actions are excusable and decency, at least in Japan, is to be found nowhere in sight. He is caught but he is unfazed, because he knows that evil is indeed everywhere.