Shiiku

"Shiiku (The Catch)" from 1961 presents an opportunity that, regrettably, goes unexplored in its execution. The film introduces an intriguing premise - a rural Japanese village capturing an enemy pilot, a personification of the monstrous devastation wrought upon their cities and people. For the villagers, the pilot represents the face of destruction, a living embodiment of the bombings that incinerated hundreds of thousands of their fellow citizens.

The film has an exceptional premise: what happens when such a 'monster' is captured by a village, and the villagers are compelled to coexist with him? Could he comprehend the gravity of the pain and suffering he inflicted from the aloofness of his aircraft? Could the villagers understand that this man, who is among those who caused them and their loved ones suffering, is also just a human being, complete with dreams and emotions?

Regrettably, "Shiiku (The Catch)" sidesteps this intriguing moral exploration in favor of focusing on the internal conflicts among the villagers. The complex juxtaposition of viewing the pilot as both a monstrosity and a fellow human, ripe with potential for deep reflection on the nature of humanity, war, and forgiveness, is largely unmined. It's a missed opportunity, indeed, leaving audiences longing for a more profound exploration of the tension and contradictions inherent in such an extraordinary situation.

In the dying months of World War 2 Japanese villagers capture a black U. S. Air Force pilot ( Hugh Hurd) and argue over what to do with him. Filmed in black and white, released in 1961, and based on a story by Kenzaburo Oe, Japanese 'new wave' director Nagisa Oshima's film is a bit of a mess, at times incoherent, and with uninteresting self-centred melodramatics( and hysterics,mixed with sake) among the villagers. The outsider/prisoner of course acts as a catalyst for change and revelations among the villagers in their small rural community, in a familiar seeming story in which the prisoner provides a source of fascination and observational amusement for the whole village.