THE SAGA OF ANATAHAN and THE TIGER: A DOUBLE BILL OF FABULOUS ASIAN FILMS REVIEWED BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
THE SAGA OF ANATAHAN. (1953) LANGUAGE: JAPANESE. DIRECTED BY JOSEF VON STERNBERG. STARRING AKEMI NEGISHI, TADASHI SUGANUMA AND KISABURO SAWAMURA.
THE TIGER. (2015) LANGUAGE: KOREAN. DIRECTED BY PARK HOON-JUNG. STARRING CHOI MIN-SIK, JEONG MAN-SIK AND KIM HONG-PA.
These are two utterly magnificent Asian films that both happen to be out on special Blu-Ray release now from EUREKA ENTERTAINMENT, so I thought I'd review them together for your reading convenience. Makes sense, huh...?
THE SAGA OF ANATAHAN is based on true events and is coming to you courtesy of EUREKA ENTERTAINMENT's marvellous MASTERS OF CINEMA SERIES, whereas THE TIGER stars probably one of the best Korean actors ever to grace the cinema screen, Choi Min-Sik from OLDBOY and I SAW THE DEVIL, films you've probably already seen and hopefully love, like I love 'em myself.
THE SAGA OF ANATAHAN is the story of a boat-load of Japanese seamen (no dirty jokes here now, please! If I can resist the temptation, surely you guys can too...) who get stranded on a deserted island in the Pacific Ocean during the dying days of World War Two.
They end up staying there for a whopping seven years, convinced that the war is still going on and that Japan is still fighting away good-o for world supremacy. Even when they find out that the war's been over for several years and that Japan has, in fact, surrendered (oh, the shame of it!), they can scarcely bring themselves to believe it. The Japan they know and love and, most importantly, that they've been keeping alive in their hearts for these seven long, lousy years, does not surrender to her enemies. Or has she...?
There's great excitement amongst the castaways when they discover that there's a woman on the island with them. Her name is Keiko, she's beautiful and graceful and she lives on the island with a chap called Kusakabe sort of by default, as they've both lost their original partners in the war. It's what you might call a marriage of convenience, see?
Kusakabe's behaviour towards Keiko becomes more and more abusive and violent, the more she interacts with the stranded sailors, every single one of whom is warm for her exquisite form. We even see Keiko stark-naked a couple of times, which I would've thought was unusual enough for 1953. Unusual and titillating, heh-heh-heh...!
Endless trouble ensues when the men, drunk on the coconut wine they've learned to make themselves, start to share Keiko around amongst themselves. Things get especially heated- and dangerous- when a plane that's crashed on the island is revealed to have on board two still- working handguns.
Now, the man who holds these two guns is the man who holds all the power. The guns will change hands several times- as will the balance of power amongst the castaways- before the film reaches its climax...
The film is black-and-white, with a haunting musical score, and it's beautifully photographed by Josef Von Sternberg, the German silent film director who was Marlene Dietrich's mentor and who famously directed her in her most mermorable picture, THE BLUE ANGEL (1930).
Another interesting fact about Josef Von Sternberg was that he taught a course in film aesthetics at the University of California in Los Angeles in the early 'Sixties. He based the course on his own works and he had for students two young rascals called Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek. They went on to form their own rock band together called, oh, I don't know, The Windows or The Mantelpiece or summat mad like that.
Anyway, the island vegetation is lush and verdant, even though we ourselves can't see its greenness (we can imagine it perfectly well, though), and the shots of the endless sea are just mesmerising. The sailors all speak Japanese but we don't get any subtitles for what they're saying. Instead, Josef Von Sternberg narrates the action for us in his gorgeous non-accented English. It's an unusual way of doing things but it works really well.
The film will probably remind you of LORD OF THE FLIES because of the way that law and order breaks down amongst the seamen (why can't I write this word without giggling?), despite their attempts to remain civilised on the island that is, for the moment anyway, home.
The narration is dotted with the most beautifully-phrased philosophical insights. Here are some of my personal favourite insights, for anyone who might be interested...!
'Nature was indifferent to the cruel destiny of man.'
'We are driven by forces about which we know nothing.'
'The change from a human being without dignity to a helpless worm takes only a second.'
'Nothing came but the waves. The horizon remained empty and remote.'
'There's no medicine for stupidity, and it was epidemic amongst us.'
'There are those who lead, and those who wish to be led. There is not necessarily any other bond between them.'
'The only real enemy most of us have is lonesomeness.'
THE TIGER is set in 1920's Korea, which just so happens to be occupied by the aforementioned Japan. Wow, Japan sure loves to push other nations around, doesn't it? Pushy old Japan, haha. The storyline is really quite tragic, both on a broader scale but also when you get down to the nitty-gritty. Let me explain.
The bigger picture sees the Governor of Japan ordering the slaughter of all of Korea's magnificent mountain tigers. I'm not sure what he wants them for but, as his lavishly-appointed office is filled with the stuffed carcasses of various other poor murdered beasts, I think it's safe to say that he wants 'em killed, stuffed and mounted for show in the place where he works.
I'm sure that we all have our own opinions on people who do that kind of thing. We will attempt- with difficulty!- not to express those opinions here. Grrrrr, don't mind me, that's just the sound of me grinding my teeth you're hearing...
Getting down to the nitty-gritty, then, we have the Governor (I really don't like this guy!) issuing orders for the capture of the tiger known as 'the Mountain Lord,' an almost mystical, legendary creature who lives on Mt. Jirisan, a bitterly cold and cruel mountain whose winters are likely to kill anyone who's not accustomed to their savagery. His soldiers have no choice then but to go off up the mountain looking for this elusive Mountain Lord who may or may not even exist. He exists all right. Just saying...
Choi Min-Sik plays Chun Man-Duk, an ageing widow and herb-gatherer who gets involved unwillingly in the hunt for this massive predatory beast only when his beloved son Seok, the only person he has left in the world, goes off to look for it too. Seok is the bait to lure his father, a former master-hunter, into the search. What a sneaky, under-handed little trick.
The trick works, but what the soldiers and the mercenary hunters- and even Seok- don't seem to know is that Man-Duk and the Mountain Lord have a previous history together. A small past kindness from Man-Duk will see the tiger return the favour before the film is over, but not until a terrible tragedy has been visited upon Man-Duk.
Man and Tiger face off against each other in the frozen wilderness of Mt. Jirisan, even though they share each other's pain and suffering and each seems to understand what makes the other tick.
Man and Tiger face off against each other in the frozen wilderness of Mt. Jirisan, even though they share each other's pain and suffering and each seems to understand what makes the other tick.
The tiger, I imagine, must be animated but if he is, it's done so well that you really can't tell that there are computers involved. He's utterly magnificent as he sees off soldiers and hunters and avenges himself for the brutal murder of his mate and poor little baby cubs, who were so cute, especially when they were defending their dead Mammy.
The wolves are scary and fantastically realistic too. The scene where they are dragging
away the bodies from the site of the carnage to devour at their leisure is chilling. I love the scene as well where Seok hides, terrified, behind the tree and the tiger slowly stalks past...
The funny thing about me watching this movie was, when it was finished, there was this news report on Sky about a tiger having escaped from a Zoo somewhere, maybe in Paris? I'm not sure now but I think that the tiger may have been shot on re-capture but don't quote me on that as I'm really not sure. It was just what I didn't want to hear after watching THE TIGER, a fabulous film but unfortunately filled with scenes of terrible cruelty to animals.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO
You can contact Sandra at:
http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com
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