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In
19th Century Japan a small coastal village is controlled by
rich land owner Chobei Onuma. Like many in his position, he
rents out portions of his holdings to peasant farmers who work
the land and pay him for the privilege. In this way the landlords
are able to keep their land and also keep the farmers in enough
debt so that they are little more than slaves. Farmer Yasuke
is deep in debt and a run of bad luck has put him behind in
his payments. Increasingly ill, he's on the verge of eviction
and begs Onuma not to toss him and his family out. But even
his most pathetic groveling is ignored by the cruel man and
in despair Yasuke slowly weakens and dies. At the moment of
his death a brief ghostly vision of the old man appears to the
land owner. This apparition frightens him but doesn't stop him
from leveling the dead man's farmhouse and pushing the debt
onto the thin shoulders of Yasuke's widow Sue and Asa, his daughter.
Explaining that it will take ten years to clear the accounts,
he installs Sue in his household kitchen and Asa in the weaver's
hut.
Even before she catches her husband pawing
an unwilling Sue, Onuma's cold-hearted wife takes an instant
dislike to the woman and begins making things difficult for
her. On the day important visitors arrive to complete arrangements
for the marriage of the wealthy couple's eldest son, Takeo,
a snake is spotted in the garden. Sue attempts to keep it from
being killed but fails and incurs the anger of the master of
the house. Soon after this violent encounter she sickens and
dies. Once again a ghostly apparition appears to the landlord.
At
the funeral of her mother Asa is approached by Satematsu, another
of the Onuma debtor farmers. He confesses his feelings for her
and they make plans to run away together and be married. But
the day before their set rendezvous, Takeo tricks Asa into leaving
the house on a fake errand. He follows her, attacks and rapes
her beside the road. The stunned and injured girl doesn't make
it back to the house and that night a search for the 'escapee'
finds her unconscious where she was left.
She slowly recovers
with only the knowledge of Satematsu's promise keeping her from
suicide. But when Satematsu discovers what has happened he foolishly
blames her for not resisting the attack more forcefully. This
plunges her into total despair; after Takeo rapes her a second
time while taunting her with the loss of her virginity she finally
takes her own life. Once again the dead appears as a horrible
ghost to Onuma and soon Takeo is having terrible visions of
snakes all around himself. By the time the young bride arrives
all three members of the family are having these awful hallucinations
and the groom is becoming unpredictable and dangerous.
Not as well known
or as impressive as the legendary films Kwaidan
or Onibaba, this is still a fine
example of the Japanese ghost story. Beautifully photographed
and methodically paced, it constantly presents fantastically
composed images that draw the viewer's attention to unexpected
details. Any one expecting a series of grotesque 'jump out at
you' set-pieces will be disappointed but the patient will find
an engrossing, haunting tale. The story of an unscrupulous rich
man taking advantage of his poorer subordinates is a universal
one that makes cultural differences irrelevant. The clear class
divisions and casual cruelty of the wealthy family give a sad
believability and inevitability to the plot. The horror elements
are mostly subtle and possibly imagined things that are easily
explained away by a disbeliever. But the story's implication
that evil actions beget horrific results is powerful regardless
of the read anyone puts on the events. This idea of evil creating
terrible things is shown most plainly in the scene right after
Asa's rape. As the weather turns dark and rain begins to fall,
a violent storm rises up and lightening strikes a tree near
where she lays. The tree splits down the middle revealing a
green snake that crawls away.
Symbols, anyone?
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