Onibaba (1964), written and directed by Kaneto Shindo. Shindo was born in Hiroshima, Japan in 1912 and died in 2012 at the age of 100. He was a highly prolific writer from 1940, with 230 credits to his name, and 46 director credits from 1951! At the age of 96 in 2008 he was the second oldest active film maker in the world (second to Portugal’s Manoel de Oliveira) and the oldest in Japan. Known for being a socialist his films took the side of the average man, over the rich and powerful. He was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Navy and was one of only six members of his 100 man unit to survive the war. I like to think that as well as the influence of Japanese folk stories and folklore there is some symbolism in Onibaba about the perception of men drafted to fight in Japan and the atrocities that took place. Innocent young men perhaps who are perceived as demons for the rest of their life and/or living with the nightmares of war! How have things like this affected Japan in the longer term, for generations to come? I think that’s evident in a lot of post war culture. I haven’t delved into that or researched in more detail but hopefully it’s an interesting brief uneducated take :) #onibaba #onibaba1964 #japanesecinema #japanesemoviedirectors (at Hiroshima) https://www.instagram.com/p/CgcHk-ao8b0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
