Red Angel (1966) Bloody And Fearless Japanese Anti-War Satire (Review)

For some, War movies are something to avoid, what with their rampant machismo and gleeful jingoism. It doesn’t matter where in the world said movies originate; this is unquestionably true. With history being unkind to the acts and crimes carried out in the heat of war, a wave of critical, hyper politicised anti-war movies were born. And, I’ll be honest, the issue of hyper maleness is still there whether the ‘heroes’ fire a gun or not. The essential question that I am skirting around is whether or not any anti-war movies evade these time-honoured stereotypes? Mostly, no, however, there are a few exceptions – one such being Yasuzo Masumura’s 1966 film, Red Angel.

Masumura regular Ayako Wakao stars as the titular angel, Nurse Nishi, who is serving during the Sino-Japan war. Based on a novel by Yoriyoshi Arima that even the unquestionably authoritative Tony Rayns is puzzled by (in a newly recorded introduction), Red Angel is something of an episodic look at the trials of tribulations of a young nurse during the height of the war. Fresh on the Job, Nishi is assigned a hospital ward that houses men with minor injuries; men desperate to prevent being reassigned to the front-line. And, being the young, attractive nurse that she is, it attracts the attention of the men. This is the first of many traumatic experiences for Nishi with her being raped by the soldiers. Red Angel is no positive depiction of Japanese soldiers and how they acted during wartime – on the contrary, Masumura is going for the jugular. She is reassigned to a requisitioned ward in Chinese territory that sees her look after a man who has lost both arms. Even when senior nurses and peers tell Nish to cut off her emotions and to look after only herself, she is unable to, instead, she gives the unfortunately maimed soldier one last night of affection – which doesn’t end well. Then we see Nishi fall for a senior doctor (Shinsuke Ashida) while serving at a medical hospital in either the Chinese slums later on the front line.

In the latter of those episodes where Nishi serves under Dr Okabe (Ashida), I, for one, am greatful that Red Angel is black & white. The scene is one of rows upon rows of bodies waiting to be seen by doctors, doctors who are either unable to do anything for their patients or cut off a limb in a desperate, overwhelmed attempt to save as many people as possible. One such scene highlights this nightmare, one patient ‘needs’ a leg amputating, unfortunately, the only pain relief is a local anaesthetic. If Masumura filmed in colour the title would be a literal one, it would also have been an easy X rated release. Later, a cholera outbreak is every bit as shocking with the number of dead requiring the nurses and the few good available hands to throw the dead in a mass grave. That comes about after a ‘comfort woman’ causes a widespread outbreak of cholera when the soldiers refuse to go without sex, even if it means forcing themselves on the deathly ill or, once again, threatening to rape nurses. There’s bleak and there’s Red Angel.

As is highlighted in the extras (specifically Rayns intro and Jonathan Rosenbaum’s “Not All Angels Have Wings” Visual Essay) many veterans of the Sino-Japanese war complimented Masumura’s film for its frontline authenticity. For this film to come from a country that has been so supportive of its military and warrior classes is quite a bold move. Yes, it is not a pleasant movie by any notable metric but it’s as bold and fearless as they come. This is unrestrained and bloodied satire that few directors have the stomach for.

As passionate and open a performance as Ayako Wakao puts in as the titular character, the way her role develops is my biggest reservation. She falls in love with, the much older, Doctor Okabe. A story that introduces a melodramatic streak at odds with this story of a nurse whose empathy and understanding results in a string of dead bodies in her wake. At best, it feels like a forced romantic story to appeal to an audience who would never watch such a film. At worst, it feels like a deliberate decision to give Nishi a reason to put herself in harm’s way on the front line. Either way, it does Red Angel no favours. Even so, Red Angel is one of the many fascinating movies produced by Japan in the 1960s and another string to the fascinatingly divergent wave of Anti-War movies, one that tackles the subject with much more of a direct approach than Godzilla and the like.

ROB’S ARCHIVE – RED ANGEL (1966)