Onibaba (film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Onibaba (literally Demon Woman) (1964) is a Japanese horror film based on a Buddhist parable. Directed by Kaneto Shindō, the film is set in rural Japan in the fourteenth century and features Nobuko Otowa and Jitsuko Yoshimura as a woman and her daughter-in-law who attack and kill passing samurai, strip them of their valuable armor and possessions, and dispose of the bodies in a deep pit.
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Story
During the Nanboku-chō period, a woman (Nobuko Otowa) and her daughter-in-law (Jitsuko Yoshimura) live in a small hut in a susuki grass swamp. They make a living by killing samurai, disposing of their bodies in a deep pit and selling their armor and weapons. A neighbor named Hachi (Kei Sato) who went to war with the woman's son/daughter-in-law's husband returns and reports that he was killed in combat. Hachi starts to help the two women to kill passersby and take their possessions. Hachi begins blatantly lusting after the daughter-in-law, who quickly is seduced and starts to sneak out of her hut every night to have sex with him. Soon, the mother-in-law, herself sexually frustrated, learns of the relationship. She first tries to sleep with Hachi and then pleads with him to not take the daughter-in-law away since she cannot kill without her help. Hachi agrees not to marry the daughter-in-law, but says she's going to do what she wants.
One night, while Hachi and the daughter-in-law are together, a lost samurai in a frightening demon mask corners the mother-in-law and forces her to take him to the road. However, the mother-in-law tricks the samurai into plunging to his death in the pit where the women dispose of their victims. The mother-in-law climbs down and steals the samurai's possessions and, with great difficulty, his mask. Despite the samurai having boasted that he was "beautiful", she finds him to be badly disfigured underneath the mask. The mother-in-law begins to play on the younger woman's fears of ghosts and punishment for sins of the flesh in what are, at first, seemingly banal conversations. At night, the mother-in-law pretends to be the demon by donning the samurai's mask and frightening the girl to run back to their hut and away from Hachi. One night, during a torrential storm, the mother-in-law again terrifies the girl with the mask, but Hachi finds the daughter-in-law and again has sex with her in the grasses as the old woman watches from afar. Later that night, Hachi returns to his hut to find a starving samurai, much like those they've killed, in his hut wolfing down his rice. The samurai kills Hachi. At the same time, the mother-in-law discovers to her horror that, after getting wet in the rain, the demon-mask is stuck to her face and is impossible to remove. She reveals her scheming to the younger woman and pleads with her to help take off the mask, promising to never again meddle in her relationship with Hachi. Though reluctant at first, the younger woman enthusiastically takes on the task of removing the mask when she discovers that it causes pain to her conniving mother-in-law. Eventually the younger woman uses a hammer to violently break off the mask, revealing the older woman's now ravaged features, similar to that of the samurai who had worn the mask earlier. Now she really believes that her mother-in-law has turned into a demon due to her disfigurement and runs from her in the grasses. The two women jump over the pit housing their victims, their fate left unclear as the film ends.
Production
According to a Criterion Collection documentary, Kaneto Shindō said he wanted to film Onibaba in a field of susuki grass, however there were very few fields of susuki grass at the time so Kaneto Shindō sent out assistant directors to find suitable locations. Once a location was found near a river bank, they built several houses to live in. They had a rule that if somebody left they would not get any pay, so it kept the crew motivated to continue. The crew could only film at daylight, because during the night hours the riverbank would overflow causing the area to be overrun by crabs, and insects were active during that time as well. So to film night scenes inside the tent the characters lived in they would put up screens to block the sun, and changing the shot would require setting the screens in a completely different spot.
Onibaba's score was done by Hikaru Hayashi and notably includes a Taiko drum soundtrack, and the natural sounds of pigeons chirping, resulting in a frenzied soundtrack.
The film makes use of rapid editing and slow motion, often at distorted or strange angles.
Distribution
It was released as a Region 1 DVD on March 16, 2004 in the Criterion Collection. A Region 2 DVD was released in 2005 as part of the Masters of Cinema series.
Reception
Reaction to Onibaba remains mixed. Matt Cale, a reviewer for Ruthlessreviews.com, said: "Based on my initial, purely gut reaction, Onibaba is a visual masterpiece, but also the sort of story that contains layer after layer of insight. I wouldn’t argue that I understood everything after one viewing, but I’m so intrigued that I want to read more reviews, scan a few clips, and even revisit the film in its entirety. It’s the sort of film made for contemplation; so mysterious and so blissfully unconcerned with immediate gratification that I have no doubt it will begin the slow climb up the list of films near and dear to my heart." Members of Variety opened their review with: "Raw fare is sometimes high adventure and exciting, at other times dull in its so-called symbolism. Too often, it turns out to be a pot-pourri of ravenous eating and blatant sex", referring to the film's violence and sexual overtones. A.H. Weiler stated that he found it hard to relate to.
Historical Setting
The story takes place shortly after the Battle of Minatogawa which began a period of over 50 years of civil war, the Nanboku-chō period (1336 to 1392) and demonstrates the class warfare between the peasants and the elite samurai at that time. It is based on an old Buddhist fable.
Analysis
According to Kaneto Shindo the effects of the mask on those who wear it is symbolic of the disfigurement of the victims of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the film reflecting the traumatic effect of this visitation on post-war Japanese society.
