It's a hot summer evening. You're hungry.
You wonder where to go, what to do...
You'd like to go swimming, but you haven't got enough money
You'd like to meet a girl!
You met that girl the other day. You wonder, if it'll happen again.
You'd like a woman to come along, buy you a meal...
...and take you off to a hotel
That's the sort of thing you're imagining!
Imagining... imagining!
Imagining her body makes you want to play with yourself...
...but you can't do it at home, because you're never alone
You think of going to a lonely field
But unfortunately...
you didn't go there
If you had, you wouldn't have killed her
Anyway, there may be someone at the station
This girl has nice breasts
She's got a very nice figure. You'd like to sleep with her!
KEEP YOUR HOME DECENT. PUT DIRTY BOOKS IN HERE
HELP YOURSELF TO SMALL CHANGE
You must insert the coin!
Hello, I haven't seen you for ages. Is Sachiko in?
That's right!
No one of that name lives there?
That's strange
I see... sorry to have bothered you
She's pretty old!
You don't mind, eh? You rather like them mature
No money problems with them; they pay for everything!
Speak now, then! But, no, you can't do it
No self-confidence! You don't know women, certainly not nice women!
Excuse me, please
How do I get to Komatsugawa?
I'm a stranger here myself
I see... I'm a student there
"I'm just no good!" You run and run and run
When you get tired of running, you stop
Stop now! Stop!
It's nice to eat ice-cream after running. But you must hurry on
The ice doesn't satisfy you: It begins to taste like sand
Water, please
I see!
It's her you wanted
Unrequited love!
Now you hurry to the school gate
As though drawn to it, drawn to the fatal spot!
You feel funny... sort of strange...
It's the feeling which comes before carnal desire
It's not six yet...
...but some men and women are already doing it somewhere
Why do I have to sit alone in this place?
Something within me stirs!
Now, up to the roof!
Quickly up the fatal steps!
Up to the roof!
It is forbidden to go on the roof
She's not here. What's wrong?
There she is! You stare at her
You imagine her naked
Her skin is quite soft
Not yet!
You're not desperate yet!
You're joking!
What do you want? You can't kill me.
That won't kill!
Don't hesitate, someone's coming! Quick! Quick! Quick!
You can hear someone coming!
It'll be terrible, when she recovers!
See, you've done this!
Now you can do anything you like
Someone's seen me!
Come here! Help me hide her!
R IS PROVED TO BE A KOREAN
Are you going to kill me? Hang me?
What are you talking about?
I didn't mean to kill her!
She's dead! I didn't mean to, really. Please help me!
Dead? What do you mean?
There!
Are you all right? There's nothing there
But that there!
It's here! Take it away!
You mean, you think there's a woman's body here?
Here! Of course!
There's nothing
Can't you see it?
Look at what I'm touching! Her foot... her hand, so cold!
Put his head under the shower
You can see her, can't you?
Can you?
I am not a killer!
You can see her!
Can you?
No, I'm sure he can't
He's looking at it!
You can see it!
Good! I thought I was going mad
But, R, what shall we do? I've killed her!
They'll execute me! What shall I do?
You're already condemned, but can you advise me?
Wake up. No one's going to kill you
Wake up?
I'm not asleep! It's there!
What's where?
Look at her carefully! Look!
I can only see the concrete floor
I'll make you touch her!
It's there!
I can see it now!
You too?
Three of us can see it
Does this mean we're all dreaming?
Maybe
People don't dream together!
But we have been imagining together
If you imagine, does it come true?
Yes, if you imagine it, as though it were real
Then those who don't see don't imagine well enough?
Didn't you hear that?
We didn't start all this to begin imagining things with R
R, do you now admit that you are R?
I'm still imagining
Stop imagining! You are R!
I must say, I feel a little like R
But I'm far from feeling really him. Let's imagine some more...
It ended when you killed her
We kindly began with your childhood, unveiled both crime and cause
But I feel something's missing still
What's missing?
For me to be really R
I can see it now!
You've seen it?
What have you done? And you an Education Officer!
I'm sorry! I got carried away!
That's no excuse! Get rid of it!
What are you doing? He's crazy, take no notice of him!
If you can't see her, shut up!
- Can you men see her? - From the beginning, Sir!
Now, everyone, shall we keep this to ourselves?
Otherwise, I'll loose my pension, I'll be hanged.
Why did you have to die?
Why don't you wake up?
Please, wake up for me!
She's warm! She's not dead! She's alive!
Thank you! I'll get my pension after all!
Now go home and keep quiet. Ordinary people don't come here
R, I haven't seen you for ages
Sister
R, don't get confused! You didn't have an elder sister!
Are you my sister?
Yes, R, I am
She should have never woken up!
If she's really his sister, then R really isn't R at all
I'm all mixed up. Do you understand?
No one understands you.
I understand. I can see her right there
Purely a personal opinion
Sister, am I R?
The R you've known?
Yes, you are a Korean called R
You used to be called by the Japanese name Shizuo
But you began to use R...
...after you were awakened to nationalism.
That's fine! Aren't you glad?
I don't know who you are, but thank you!
Thanks to your assistance, we can finally complete the ceremony
I'm against capital punishment!
I don't know whether to laugh or cry!
R, you should not die
Instead you should repent your guilt by getting better
What are you doing, Education Officer?
What she is saying is dangerous!
What she is saying? We can't even see her!
She opposes capital punishment
Tell me what she says. You can see her
Priest, tell me, just the most important things
I can't repent until I'm sure I'm R
But you called me your sister so you must be R
That's it! You are R! Listen to her!
May I touch your hand?
If I understand you, sister, perhaps I'll understand myself
He just touched her
Where?
His hand is on her flesh
Her skin flushes
"Those who look at a woman with lust, have already sinned with her in their hearts."
Did she say that?
No, Christ did: He knew the meaning of sexual desire, too
R, you are touching the Korean skin...
...which bears the long, painful history of the Korean race.
When the race is sad, we women are especially sad
There are no women of my age...
...from the Southern part of Korea, who do not bear scars.
They were beaten by their fathers, or injured by their husbands...
...and some of them committed suicide, slitting their wrists.
"The history of the Korean people comprises a five-thousand year occupation by other races.
"Especially in modern times, its cities have been ransacked and its people murdered,
"as victims of Japanese imperialism for 36 years..."
Where's his hand now?
It's slowly moving, then it stops
Her excitement makes her talk like this
Sister...
You remember? You remember your mother?
I feel strange...
My head is...
How?
Slightly sick
Rest your head on me
Now his head is on her knee. Higher than her knee!
I can see her!
Talk to me
R, how do you feel?
My head is still a bit dizzy
"Like Cain, long pursued, his sadness is profound
"Even though it makes a beast of me, I will endure this suffering"
The Korean poet Yu Chi-han wrote that
I remembered it when I saw your father's face
I visited your home
I saw the grape vine for the first time
The grapes hung purple, glowing in the dark
R, after you graduated from junior high school...
...you worked for a factory, and went to night school.
A young Korean among the Japanese
We've already covered that part!
Your job is to make R realize he's the condemned man
Let him admit his sin and die properly
You repent by living
R now knows, who he is: He knows his Korean race!
"She is saying that R will prove himself...
...to be a fine man by striving for the unification...
...and prosperity of his country...
...and thus will atone for his crime."
That's what she's saying. I'm only repeating it
R doesn't have another life. The law is the law after all
The unity of your county is all very well, but law is law
But that is Japanese law!
Certainly. R committed his crimes in Japan
R did not want to be born in Japan!
No Korean does!
His father was brought to Japan as a serf
We covered that, too. We also know his mother was deaf and mute
You Japanese will never understand how we Koreans feel!
R's crime was caused by Japanese imperialism!
Thus, Japan has no right whatsoever to punish him
If we follow your logic, 600,000 Koreans living in Japan must all commit murders
If every one of them killed two Japanese...
1.2 millions would lose their lives... our population problem would be solved
Japan has not enough execution chambers for that!
You're going too fast
Look, this is an execution chamber
It's neither time nor place to debate with an imaginary woman
This won't do. If you can see her, remove her!
Then I'll go with R
We're going to work for the unity of our country
Nowadays they even use sex for politics
Sex comes first. To hide it people talk politics
It's interesting. Too bad you can't see
The Public Prosecutor can't see her, either!
I still can't see her. Does this mean I'm not fit for my job?
How are you? Can you stand up?
Will you follow me?
Why don't you answer?
In your letter you said you'd join our ranks, didn't you?
Maybe. I don't remember very well
And now?
Being a revolutionary doesn't seem to fit R
Though I'm trying to be and think like him
You mean, you don't care about the unification of your country?
It doesn't fit...
When did you change your mind?
R, you're no longer R! You're no longer a Korean!
I've said that all along. Pretty smart for a woman!
Who are you? What right do you have to talk like this?
I'm a Korean in Japan. I'm sad and angry that he's become like this
You've lost R's spirit, and you've lost the Korean spirit!
You're now simply a culprit! A murderer!
You would not have been able to commit a deed like this
After he killed, the real R...
...telephoned the police as if he had been challenging all Japan. How about that?
R's crime was a Korean crime!
Your crime is the only way for a Korean to wreak revenge upon the Japanese
In the name of the Japanese nation, the Japanese have murdered innumerable Koreans!
However, we, who belong nowhere, can only take personal revenge upon the Japanese!
The world is upside down.
But the pride and sorrow of Korea are subsumed into this murder
R, isn't this the only way, to understand your crime?
Answer me!
Sister, if what you described is really the way R is...
then I'm not R at all
Who has done this to him?
You! All of you!
What do you mean? We've done our best to turn R back into R!
Why, I almost killed a woman, when I tried to be helpful
That's a lie! R is not R! As a Korean I reject him!
I've said he's not R all along!
Go ahead and execute R!
It is Japanese imperialism...
...that has stripped R and the Koreans of their racial pride
And this crude imperialism still thrives today...
among you, officials, you representatives of Japan...
who are nothing but blood hounds of imperial authority!
All right, let's get on with it
It doesn't seem right to hang him now, after all our efforts
Go ahead, I'll watch!
Wait!
What's that?
Now you've seen her
This woman, I see her! She's crying, I can even hear her
I wonder if I'm fit for this job?
She's holding on to him, to delay the execution
But according to section 447, paragraph 2...
...no one may enter here without permission
We can't permit anyone invisible!
If that's the case, I hereby order her to be executed. You can rely on my decision
Kill her?
Yes!
Yes, Sir!
R FINALLY BECOMES R
Come on, priest, dance!
He's not used to drink
But we all get worked up on execution days, don't we?
Alright, buddy... I know how it is!
Want another one?
I'm going to get stinking drunk!
- Am I dreaming? - No, you're not
I didn't know you fancied boys
Prosecutor, don't you think it's best to abolish capital punishment...
Just a personal opinion, mind you. What do you think, Sir?
I didn't know you felt like that
Actually, I don't know much about it, but you, who work here...
All right, you're a dog! Lick away!
You, who've made a fine reputation here...
...you are all right, no doubt you'll be retiring soon
But I have to carry on here, so I think about things a lot
About this capital punishment problem
You make it sound as though I'm some sort of killer
Come, come, now!
You shouldn't talk like that!
Well, maybe there just might be some killer among us
Maybe the doctor!
I don't dislike hangings, you know
- Are you my sister? - Yes, you are R
If you are my sister... I am really R
So it's no dream
No, it's not, it's real
"That's the one who killed Pierre!"
Koreans were the only foreigners I ever killed!
She was accusing me
In 1946 I was about to be repatriated from Saigon
It was a beautiful evening, the sun was setting
"Non, je ne sais pas, non!"
But the old woman's finger pointed at me!
"You killed Pierre, your prisoner!" But I didn't kill him!
Let's not talk about killings
Some other time
I can't stop now!
Every day for three years: "You killed Pierre!"
I didn't, but I had to think about it every day
Our army was disbanded, so they couldn't give evidence on my behalf
Even the emperor...
No one helped anyone in those days
You were the one!
You came up to me one day
"Won't you help a poor sick prisoner, doctor?"
You lied!
All I do here...
...is see whether they are dead or not!
You knew what was involved
I explained it all when I offered you the job
That night I went home drunk, my girl was waiting
I told her all about it
I told her I'd be getting a much better salary...
...just for saying if they were dead or not
Until then, I had to take work as a salesman
She never came back. In all, 29 girls haven't come back!
Don't speak to him like that!
Why not? I'm only an official loyal to Japanese law
Official! That makes me laugh!
But the girls don't laugh, they get angry
They cry, then they leave
Tonight another girl will be waiting for me
Very nice, Doctor! Please go home and get on with it!
Get on with it?
When the trap is sprung, that's when the girls run away
It's not natural, but it's just then, after an execution...
...I need a woman most
I see. It means that you personally hate executions
Not at all! I chose this job because I like it!
I'd go to Vietnam or Korea or the Philippines to work in the death cells,
if they didn't hang here!
Shut up! You're insane!
Death by hanging!
Sister, you're touching me
It makes me tremble
This isn't a dream, it's real
Yet it's like a dream
A dream seems real, reality seems a dream...
Such things happen, don't they?
Are you confusing dreams and reality?
Isn't that a weakness of yours?
Maybe it's bad to imagine doing something to a girl
When I play with myself, I sometimes look at the photo of an actress
Looking excites me at first, but it's only a photo, really
So I imagine tearing off her clothes, to make her different
Nothing happens really...
...but my imagination is changing, spreading
Spreading?
Don't you think that sex controls the soul more than the body?
Bodies have limitations, imaginations have none
Some people even love chickens
There was a man, who made love to his wife every day...
...but still raped and killed
R!
Imagination is limitless
In imagination, I fantasize of a girl with a bathing suit on
I let her refuse me, seduce me...
...and I even kill her
Stop it!
Why didn't you have an ordinary love affair?
I stabbed all of you, there was blood everywhere!
Then, somehow, got stabbed, too
Then I caught you, embraced you, we fell down
You were very heavy, heavy...
...as though you were the earth itself
Then I woke up
It was a dream, but my hands were sticky with blood
It was merely my own sweat. This happens every night
I'm sorry I talked about you that way...
...but you were so poor...
...and you were Korean
You only had dreams to live on
I began living in dreams long ago
I wanted good food...
...nice clothes
But you can't admit it
You learn to give up, really
But you imagine...
...you get the food...
...you get the nice clothes, you can be happy in your imagination
So when, as a man, you want a woman, you're used to imagining things
Of course...
...imagination doesn't satisfy
I follow girls...
...I steal
But that excites the imagination even more
When I was trying to be R just now, I felt I'd done such things
But whether real or only imaginary, I don't know
Because in my imagination I've done crimes like those over and over again
But why does your imagination do this?
When men are miserable they usually wish for pleasant things
Maybe, but it was different with me
My imaginary scenes were all like that
Maybe imagination had already disturbed my mind
When I repeat my crime, in my imagination...
...I feel more confident
For example, I imagined a girl coming along on a bike and raped her
I would repeat this imagination
Then one day it happened in reality
The girl rides along just as I imagined...
...so I feel very confident
I imagined her coming from the right
So I hesitate
If she does not come from the right...
...it's neither imaginary nor real
At this moment I do not have any sexual desire
I just have a desire to combine the real and the imaginary
Unless she comes from the right, I can stop
But then I change my position, so that she is coming from the right
Now the real and the imaginary are one
Then I'm ready
I'm confident
Just as I imagined...
...I pull her off the bike
It's a dream, as always, isn't it?
I've seen as many as 15 or 20, all in a line...
...machine-gunned to death. That really stimulated me!
But it was my job, to write the official report:
"Fifty enemies killed"
You saw it? It was you who killed them!
Yes, I remember the first seven...
...but after them I didn't feel anything much
How did you feel?
Nothing. I had this gun, so naturally I killed
This was in the war, remember... Japan's war!
And I was called a war criminal!
He did what he did for the sake of his country
Even being a war criminal
Thank you, soldiers brave, who work for your country's sake!
But I don't understand, why this crime of mine...
...should feel so dreamlike
I imagined it, then went and did it, imagining it
Then I imagined it again afterwards
And so, feeling as I do...
...I can't really feel that the people I killed were real
When I think of them, they're so vague and misty
I wonder why
Sister, I met you during such a moment
Met me?
Met you
Sister I met you, didn't I?
Yes, you did, R
R?
R!
Yes, sister, I meet you during such moments
I've become very fond of you
...and I began to worry
You'd hurt your foot, I remember...
...yet you still came to see me
You got off the bus...
before the right stop
You had to walk to my house
It was dangerous: Lots of criminals like me around
If anything happened to you...
...my heart would stop
...my sister
And if you were killed and raped...
...like I did to them?
All day long, my heart pounded until it hurt
And that night I remembered these girls
It was as though...
...I'd been hit very hard
The girls I killed...
...they've disappeared...
...all for my sake
Too bad about the Koreans. They fought for their country, too. They are very...
...But let's not talk about that today
Koreans are no good! Kill the lot!
600,000 in Japan
They could be killed!
"Not enough execution chambers". But when you're police chief...
I'm talking about Korean communists!
I think of the red flag flying at Pusan
The Japanese have done plenty to the Koreans
When the red flag is strong enough, they'll come for us
Revenging themselves for all we did to them
All our women will be raped, of course...
...but I'll be killed before then
Public Prosecutor, you're not saying anything. What do you think?
Older people seem to share your opinion
Don't you believe it?
Well, we lawyers don't usually think about...
...problems between nations
Don't you? I thought you were headed for the Supreme Court!
Because he doesn't think, he's sure to get there
He's a good man
Well, we all do our best for our country
Killing people
A lot's happened today, but I've learned one thing from you all
It's patriotic to kill a man here, or shoot him in war
It's all the same
This sort of work is just a job...
...but, personally, we hate war and execution
Let's pray for the day when there'll be neither war, nor execution
Am I right, Public Prosecutor?
Yes, let's drink a toast to that
Get up, priest! Time for a toast!
"Lest the wine be soured, all we weak sinners ask compassion."
Cheers!
Sister, don't cry
In my imagination it is me who cries...
...and you comfort me
I've come to love my sister
I wonder why I confuse my sister with my victims
I mix them all up in my head
When I think of someone I love dying...
...I suddenly realize the true meaning of death
Maybe I killed two people
Now that I've come to like you so much...
...my mind is no longer merely imagination
It contains a world that others can enter...
Because now, when I think about my victims...
...who were previously so vague and misty...
...they now seem more real to me
Not only the victims themselves...
...but what I did, and thus what I am
...this, too, I see more realistically, more objectively
Now, for the first time in your life you are able to face reality
A young Korean in Japan
Now, I think, I can die
That's right, let the old R die, let the new R live on
But the old R killed in reality
But now I know more, more about my place in the world
Careful, careful. You will fall!
No, I'm not, I'm all right
I'll tickle you, sister!
R ACCEPTS BEING R...
...FOR THE SAKE OF ALL Rs
I have understood. I am R
Hurray! This sort of thing makes the job worthwhile!
You admit being R?
Don't question too much. Discussions are fruitless
Let's execute him now
All right, let's get on with it
I shouldn't be executed
This is what I hate about the job!
Why shouldn't you be executed?
I am R, but I am not the R you've been thinking of
R! Keep God out of this, or we'll have another non-R!
Sure, I'm the R who did all those things
But...
You don't feel guilty?
I don't feel guilty
You, convicted man, don't talk like that!
R is guilty, all right, but he's different from me
Now he's good, thanks to all your efforts
"The accused is condemned to death"
"I felt carnal desire...
"I decided to rape her..."
Only I didn't
"Fearing she might remember...
"I was afraid she might identify me...
"I decided to kill her and rape her".
But I didn't!
You did!
No, that R is not me
Those are just set phrases, maybe they're not quite appropriate
Maybe "carnal desire" and "rape" aren't quite what you had in mind
The important fact is that you killed two girls
Yes, I'll admit to that
At last! So it's only natural you should be executed
Is it wrong to kill?
Yes, it is wrong to kill
Really?
Then, killing me is wrong, isn't it?
Such questions are the result of all this post-war education!
A fine idea. First we kill the murderer...
...then, being murderers, we'll be killed, and so on and so on
Don't say such things! We're legal executioners!
It's the nation that does not permit you to live
I don't accept that. What is a nation? Show me one!
I don't want to be killed by an abstraction
The Public Prosecutor represents the nation
Then you are my murderers
I'm only a Security Officer
A small part, not the whole thing
Then who is?
Are you?
But my rank is only a little bit higher than his
Public Prosecutor?
If you were the whole thing, you would be evil for killing me
The next Prosecutor will kill you, and he'll be killed in turn...
...and finally no one will be left
What slippery talk is this? You'd make a good lawyer!
I killed two people...
...but not like it says
You say I'm guilty
But this is only to get at me... to kill me
Enough! Stop!
But it wasn't me, who killed
So you think, you're not guilty?
I'm not guilty
As long as you feel not guilty, you're not
We won't execute you
If this gets out...
R, you are not guilty
You are free to go
Go!
What's the matter R?
You've stopped. You can't go?
You've seen God's light, and now you feel guilty.
You didn't feel like this before!
R, do you understand why you stopped there?
Out there is the nation...
This also is the nation
You said that the nation is invisible
But now you see it, and cannot escape its existence
The nation is in your mind, and as long as it exists there, you feel guilty
Just now you realized that you should be executed
He's a great man!
I've never seen such a great Prosecutor in my whole career!
You could even be Prime Minister! Happy Japan!
Though I may not live to see it
Wait! Wait a moment!
R, you are lucky to have met such a great Prosecutor
Tell us, how you feel: It will comfort those who follow you
Something like: "Oh, the morning sky is clear"
Or: "Love to mother"
I'm not guilty!
You can't retract!
For a time I thought that maybe I was guilty, somehow
But I remain innocent
Because I'm not R!
A nation cannot make me guilty.
Well, with such ideas you shall not be allowed to live
I know, that is why I admit it
For all Rs, including you, I'll courageously admit to being R...
...and I will die now
I thank you very much
You've done a good job
Education Officer, thank you for taking part in this execution.
Security Officer, thank you for taking part in this execution.
And you...
And you, dear spectators, thank you for taking part in this execution.