L'ange rouge

Extremely tough little b/w gem from director, Masumura. It's 1939 and the Japanese are fighting in China, to not very much effect. We follow the efforts of those in field hospitals desperately trying to pick up the pieces when each load of war injured is raced back from the front line. Limbs are sawn off and bullets removed, all without aesthetic but plenty of blood and screams. Amid it all our heroine struggles to recover from her early rape by patients and the requests of the desperate and dying. This movie is so well put together that it is only afterwards you wonder just how that scene where she allows the handless man to feel her with his feet or make her senior a 'man again', without it seeming incongruous within this tale of death and destruction. With the blatant misogynism, nudity, explicit surgery, bondage, drug taking and even cross dressing, not to mention the inherent criticism of the Japanese stance, it is a wonder this film got made, distributed and survived. Important and enthralling film.

A bleak and exceptionally well-made anti-war movie, Red Angel is surprisingly bold for a movie that's as old as it is. It goes to some fairly extreme places when it comes to the violence, the intensity of some of its sexual themes, and its depiction of drug addiction. It's definitely not a good time, but much of the shocking stuff here is in service of a well-executed statement on the horrors, tragedies, and inherent madness of war.

There are some elements here that feel a little questionable, and I can see some of the decisions the main character makes (especially in the first half) turning some people off, but I still think the strengths of Red Angel far outweight the weaknesses or shortcomings. It wasn't ideal Friday night viewing, but it is a film I am glad I saw (though will probably never see again, owing to how persistently traumatic it was).

This film begins in 1939 with a young nurse by the name of "Nishi Sakura" (Ayako Wakao) being sent from her home in Tokyo to a mobile Army hospital in China to care for Japanese soldiers who have been seriously wounded in the war over there. Although she is quite eager to demonstrate her medical skills, she is immediately horrified at the condition of the hospital which is short on medical equipment and supplies needed for all of the dying and wounded soldiers. To suggest that it is an unpleasant environment would be an understatement-especially considering that within the first week of her reporting for duty she is forcibly raped by a soldier named "Private Sakamoto" (Jotaro Senba). Yet as traumatic as this event is for her, she still does everything she can to save his life when he returns from the front lines with injuries even worse than before. And her feelings for other wounded soldiers continues even though she is warned repeatedly not to get emotionally involved. However, it isn't until she falls in love with one of the doctors that things take a turn for the worse. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was one of those films that was well-made but, because of the subject matter, was rather difficult to actually enjoy. To its credit, unlike so many other war movies which glorifies the battlefield action, this one showcases the harsh realities of it to great effect. Likewise, having an absolutely gorgeous actress like Ayako Wakao certainly didn't hurt either. Be that as it may, in spite of some rather disturbing scenes, I still consider this to be a very good anti-war film, and I have rated it accordingly. Above average.

Red Angel is a very interesting and strange movie which could make the staunchest warmonger into a pacifist with bloody sights that might delight Mexican/American director Robert Rodriguez. A beautiful, sensual nurse named Nishi battles the 1939 war in China and her own repulsion to its inhuman violence by making love to an amputee and falling in love with a drug-addicted doctor. Be ready for the screams of surgery with no anesthetic and the sight of saws being used to cut off limbs. A little soft core, a lot of action, enough blood to make you happy the film is in black and white. Still . . . it's always worthwhile to take a look at the world through another culture's eyes.

This is the story of Nurse Sakura Nishi, who is a young army nurse sent to field hospitals in China during the Sino-Japanese war. There she sees the atrocities of war, sometimes by her own people. She has a conscience (after being raped, she reports it and that soldier Sakamoto goes back to the front. Not much later, he is wounded and she tries to save his life. It is a great scene). There are amputations at will in these makeshift hospitals at the request of Dr. Okabe, whom Nurse Nishi falls in love with. That is perfectly believable, this is a time of war. Ayako Wakao, who is a great actress, plays Nurse Nishi perfectly. Her expressions at seeing all this brutality, her reactions to it are all true to life. You can only wonder what it was like to be there, she shows you. Not for the faint of heart of course, this film is grim but very gripping. Shot in glorious black and white, it depicts the horrors of war with a little light (Nurse Nishi) for all who have experienced it. Brutal but essential.