Onna-ro hizu

This film begins during the age of the samurai on a small, rocky piece of land known as Nenbutsu Island which is located somewhere in the Shiranui Sea and serves as a prison for female convicts. As the story unfolds, a small boat arrives carrying a samurai by the name of "Santarô Isahaya" (Masakazu Tamura) and two female prisoners named "Okiyo" (Maya Kitajima) and "Osen" (Hiroko Sakurai). Although Okiyo appears to be somewhat rebellious, the warden "Gunjûrô Segoshi" (Kazuo Katô) is more concerned about the fact that Isahaya also happens to be the son of the Governor of Nagasaki who has a great deal of influence. But first the most ranking prisoner named "Omasa" (Yuki Aresa) has to impose discipline on the two new convicts in order to let them know that she is the boss. But she also has a hidden agenda which includes getting off the island and she is willing to do anything to accomplish that goal. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an okay "Women-in-Prison" movie which managed to capture the brutality one might expect from a film of this sort without straying too far out-of-bounds. Yet, while I certainly appreciated that fact, I must admit it could have used a bit more suspense, drama and character development. That being said, I have rated this film accordingly. Average.