A Woman and War
Dear!
Welcome home.
Makoto...
It's your father.
Makoto.
It's okay.
How you've grown!
I'm still waiting for my prosthetic arm.
Your arm?
Daddy is getting a new right arm.
What are you doing?
My right arm's itchy.
Hi, there.
You have saké? - Yes, I do.
Rationed beer gives me the chills.
That's it!
Heavenly!
That's your last one. - How come?
Her patron's got a new woman, so she's closing down.
Finding saké has become a hassle.
How will you live? - I don't know.
I'd rather get married than be an Army whore.
I'll take you. - You're married!
I want to be a wife.
You're single, Mr. Novelist.
Do you write fiction?
No, I just keep a journal.
So you do nothing?
Absolutely nothing. I don't care anymore.
So why don't we get together?
Sounds good.
War's going to screw us anyway,
so let's screw and let the war know that we're screwed already.
I like that.
Let me screw you once before that.
Yes, one last time.
No, as of today I belong to Mr. Nomura.
One more fuck won't make a difference.
When Japan loses, 80% of our men will die and 20% of the women.
Only old men and babies will remain.
No one will be left to screw, so enjoy it now. Right, sir?
Sounds OK to me.
See? He agrees with us. - No!
Was that in the line of duty?
Where were you?
Northern China. - Tell me, sir...
Japan can't even handle China...
so what chance do we have against the Americans?
If we lose the war, women will be raped...
and men will be beaten to death.
Is that what you want?
Come again.
There's no kitchenware.
Pots and pans and plates...
I hate living with them.
Everyone needs bowls and chopsticks.
I don't.
I can eat in cafés.
Cafés will be closing down soon.
I'll cheat on you.
Go ahead... do as you like.
Do you feel anything?
Come on.
You contracted your muscles.
It's a habit.
I picked it up at the brothel.
They taught me to save my pussy by making men climax quickly.
Don't you feel any pleasure?
No.
I cut off my feelings, so I could handle 7 men a day.
It became a habit, and now I can't shake it.
Let's screw until the war ends.
Will you kick me out when the war ends?
What nonsense! I won't be alive to kick you out.
Will Japan lose?
Japan will cease to exist.
Women will survive to give birth to half-breeds...
and to a new country.
A half-breed country.
Women should survive and screw as they please.
While the war lasts, I'll be a good wife to you.
On your mark!
Take a stance!
Charge!
Hold yourself steady!
Private Ohira, show them how it's done.
Quickly.
Your right arm's missing.
Sorry.
Don't tell me chicken and eggs are being issued?
They're from the black market. I hate standing in ration lines.
I haven't had a real omelette for years.
I think I've changed quite a lot:
I've become a good housewife and I'm enjoying it.
You learned how to be a housewife, but not how to feel pleasure.
I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry.
Forgive me.
It's all because of my past.
I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Come inside me, please.
I'm not hard.
Why?
Ever since you returned from the frontline...
Sorry.
Please.
Use your hand.
You like bomb sites?
Mantis takes me to see bomb sites.
He's afraid of dying, but he insists on visiting them.
The bigger the impact, the better.
He feeds on people's misfortune.
I hate rubble...
because it doesn't burn.
To die like a dog...
Served on a platter, just like barbeque meat.
Look at that.
That branch looks like a male organ!
lmagine a man being hung like that!
Maybe the tree could satisfy you.
It'd rip me apart.
What are you doing?
Many girls died from rotting parts at the brothel,
so we sunbathed like this.
Nothing kills germs like sunshine.
Oh, it's so nice and warm.
Give it a try, Mr. Nomura.
Very well.
The warmth makes me feel like doing it.
Even if it gives you no pleasure?
It might, this time.
Right? Let's go home.
I want to go to the bookshop. - Again? - For research.
I have to write a screenplay, so I don't get drafted.
It's ridiculous, but I have to eat.
Stop it...
Let her go!
This is how the Koreans eat.
Even with two arms?
Yes.
With all these air raids, you'd better evacuate.
To your parents'. - No, that's no good.
Go to your parents'.
What about you?
They can't accommodate all three of us.
I'll join you if things get worse.
Take care of yourself, dear.
Dad...
Where are you off to?
Shopping?
Yes.
I'm on my way to get supplies, too.
My friend's a rice farmer.
He sells rice to me at a discount.
I lost this arm protecting him.
He owes me. He'll do anything for me.
You could come with me.
Really?
Yes, please!
Is it much farther?
We're almost there.
It's so deep in the woods...
How about a good time?
What do you mean?
In exchange for rice, you should do as I ask.
No! That's indecent!
Never!
I don't want rice anymore. I'm going home!
Where am I?
How come lice don't bite you?
My bed's infested with them.
They don't bother me. I grew up surrounded by lice.
Where are you from?
Fukushima.
When we helped Dad on the farm, we got to eat potato leaves.
At other times, we ate weeds and roots.
One winter was so tough...
Dad sold me to a brothel so there was one less mouth to feed.
At the brothel, I learned that people ate three meals a day.
Do you see your parents?
Dad drank away the money he got for me.
All he wants from me is money, so I keep away.
I got bit by the horny bug.
I can't get rid of it.
You're crazy about me.
Crazy for your body.
Have you been in love?
Once.
Who was she?
As aspiring novelist.
That was 10 years ago.
Was she that good?
I never screwed her.
I couldn't bring myself to violate her.
You're terrible!
You don't mind violating me!
I'm not violating you, I'm playing with you.
I never tire of your body.
It's arousing.
I want to put you in different poses.
You're my pretty little doll.
That's why...
even if you don't feel any pleasure,
if I think of you as a doll,
I can console myself...
knowing a doll feels nothing.
I'm a doll...
If you could feel pleasure...
men would have been so enraptured by you.
I've never made a man feel like that.
I'm worthless.
Don't cry.
You're the last woman I'll ever have.
"The last woman..."?
Soon, the war will end...
and so will I.
You're ready to die!
How adorable!
I bet you didn't kiss her, either.
No.
Everything you wish she'd done to you, I'll do to you.
Sir...
Are we almost there? - It won't be long.
Maybe I took a wrong turn.
There are no more trains. We'll have to sleep here.
I'm cold.
Where I was stationed, it was colder.
During basic training in Jinan...
there was a blizzard in December,
and they made us run naked.
The cold pricked like needles.
One man fell down with frostbite.
The drill sergeant dared us to stab the POWs with bayonets.
I was shaking and scared at first,
but you get used to anything.
Soon we were bragging about how many we'd killed.
"How many did you kill, Ohira?"
"I got five." "That's impressive.
That's how we talked.
We were sent straight to the frontline.
They called it 'Operation Wipeout'
Heard of it?
Destroy enemy bases completely...
so the enemies could never rise again.
Kill them all!
The Eight Route Army has a scorched earth policy.
That's wipe-out killings, scorching and seizing.
Kill everyone you see and burn every house you come across.
Break into houses, steal livestock and whatever else you find.
Anything goes, because you'll kill them anyway.
Any women you find are gang-raped.
Once I broke into a civilian house,
and I found a girl hiding in the barn.
She covered her face with shit to try to keep me away.
She even put some in her mouth in resistance.
I got flaccid and couldn't rape her.
Please help me.
I got so fed up, I grabbed a piece of firewood...
and shoved it up her vagina.
Let me go. Please don't kill me.
I have a baby to feed. Please!
I raped a mother, too...
with her baby screaming beside us.
It just wouldn't stop...
so I grabbed it by the leg and dropped it into a boiling pot.
No wonder you're not touring bomb sites.
It's karma for all the people you wanted bombed.
It was just an incendiary bomb.
Aren't you vilified for showing your legs?
Everyone's got bigger worries.
Is your place okay?
It'll make a good target.
A little bomber will hit the bull's eye and turn it into rubble.
That's why I want some cyanide. I know you have some.
You don't need it. You just wait.
I'd rather die quickly than be suffocated by smoke.
If you want it, you'll have to work for it.
Where's your wife?
In the countryside.
I'll pay you.
Where were you? - Out.
Who did you screw?
That hurts!
Who was it? - What's it matter?
Did it feel good?
It's always the same.
Don't screw around, then!
I've been a toy for men since Dad sold me.
But now I'm my own toy.
I can't stop playing with my own toy.
I wish all Japanese people died except for us.
Just us?
Then you wouldn't be able to cheat on me.
Don't treat me like that!
Ouch! Please don't!
No!
You frigid whore!
Does it feel good? - I don't know...
That's good!
More!
I'm scared...
Almost...
I'm coming...
Hello.
Sir?
Can you give me some rice, please?
I want to feed my child.
You have money?
No.
You can have me.
Oh, thank you, thank you!
Thank you...
This is the Eastern District Army special bulletin.
300 enemy B-29s have invaded our airspace from Sagami Bay.
An air-raid warning has been issued.
Only 300!
Send 3000... stingy assholes!
To the shelter.
What's the rush?
Are you afraid of dying?
When I hear the bombs rattle, I fear my heart will stop.
Evacuate to the shelters!
Evacuatel
Get in here!
Look at that: it's so beautiful.
They're like fireworks.
Burn it all down...
Burn! Everything, burn!
Burn all the villages!
The woods and the mountains!
Burn the sea and the sky!
Burn more!
Give me more!
If I survive the war, I'll have a half-breed baby.
Are you alright?
Give me more!
Harder!
Do it harder!
Put out the fire.
Don't let the house burn down.
This house is mine, too.
I don't want it to burn down.
I've decided not to go against the tide of time.
We must endure what is insufferable...
in acceptance of world peace forever,
so this country will stay intact,
as well as the faith of my good subjects.
Should any of you act out of outrage...
and plot any acts of anarchy,
and lose the trust of the rest of the world...
The war is over.
Is that what it means?
Just like that.
I couldn't have been more prepared...
for the final hours of my life.
You've survived the war. Any comments?
It was like a dream.
Your lover has died.
Is it really over? - Yes.
No more B-29s.
Right. No more air raids.
No more sirens.
Night and day will be divided again.
We'll just eat and sleep and fall into routines.
How unbearable.
You were very sweet to me during the war.
You think I was sweet?
Yes, very much so.
I was never sweet to you.
I humiliated you. I used you to satisfy my lust.
I'm just horny.
And you know that.
But that's all we are.
That's all we need to be.
I wish things would stay the same.
Is that what you want?
How about you?
Well...
I'm tired of you treating me like a little pet.
I want serious romance.
What do you mean by that?
To be treated like a lady.
So you're after a platonic relationship?
When I'm sent to a labour camp on a Pacific island,
I'll flirt with a native girl...
and be whipped until I'm breathless.
So you'd better have a platonic relationship.
I might as well be with a mermaid.
Is the war really over?
Yes.
We should have burned to death together.
I don't want to die.
You're honest.
And hopeless.
No...
Just transparent.
How dare you stop now? I
Damn youl
You waited for Tokyo to be scorched!
Don't stop now!
Japan hasn't been destroyed yet,
so you can't stop.
HOTEL
It is you. It's been a while.
The war's over, but you're still doing this.
So it's GIs now.
Come with me.
I only screw GIs, not geriatric Japs!
What? - The Yankees showed me what it's really about.
Japanese men are so small and pathetic.
The Yankees make me cum over and over.
Watch your mouth, whore!
Japan lost the war because of whores like you.
It's you.
How's Mr. Nomura?
He's no good.
How do you mean?
He's shooting up.
Mr. Nomura?
Mr. Nomura.
Mr. Nomura!
Hey.
It's you again.
What are you doing nowadays?
I'm a GI whore.
You had a half-breed baby yet?
No, because they all use condoms.
They're afraid of getting VD.
I was working at the comfort station for GIs.
The Recreation and Amusement Association.
I turned tricks with GIs.
I thought the black men's cocks would rip me open at first.
Imagine 10 of those huge rods every day...
It was tougher than my brothel days.
But they shut the RAA down in March.
The GI's mommies didn't like their boys getting VD.
Now I'm a street hooker.
For foreigners?
You're the last Japanese man I had.
The last Japanese man...
But Japan's still here.
Now the kamikaze pilots are black marketeers.
War widows renounced decency...
and gave in to lust.
Honourable men and women were corrupted.
There's no stopping them...
nor should they be stopped.
We live...
and we corrupt.
That's the only salvation left to man.
Even the Emperor's become a man.
He's always been a man.
It was ridiculous to have appointed him 'God on Earth'.
Now he's just a man again.
Layers of lies.
They'd do anything...
to keep Japan as it is.
Killing the Emperor...
would put Japan...
in total chaos.
You should lie down.
I'll get you something nutritious to eat.
What would you like to eat?
I want some white rice.
OK, I'll get you some rice as white as pearls.
Excuse me.
What's happened?
Some kind of accident has delayed the train.
Just my luck...
I have to pick up some rice from a farmer.
Rice?
Yes, a friend of mine...
gives it to me at a discount.
Would you mind if I came along to get some rice?
I really need some rice now.
This must be your lucky day. Come with me.
Thank you so much.
But the train's not coming...
There it is!
No!
Have we met before?
At the bar...
You were at my bar.
Don't stop.
Choke me. Please.
That was so good.
That was the first time...
Nobody else made me feel so good.
Wait.
You smell like war.
Do it to me again.
You're crazy!
Mister!
I need rice.
Can you please give me some rice?
I'll do anything for you.
Mr. Nomura, I'm back.
See, I have rice as white as pearls.
You wait right there, I'll cook it at once.
We'll eat it together...
until we get full.
Delicious noodles!
Come on in!
What d'you want?
Ramen noodles.
They're delicious. - Sure are.
Why did Dad go home?
He's been to China, so I thought he'd like ramen...
I think your father has trouble eating noodles with only one hand.
Stop that.
Stop it.
Don't!
First, I beat them.
Then, I choke them so they pass out.
I strip them and look at their genitals.
Some are hairier than others.
Some have fuller labia than others.
They're all unique and I never tire of looking.
They come to in about half an hour.
Then I screw them.
It feels better when it's forced.
The best part is just before I do it...
I'd die for that moment.
I wouldn't mind if I was beheaded with a sword.
It's that good.
It's 100% good.
Detective...
Do you have a cigarette?
I won't give one to an animal like you.
It turns out that 'God on Earth' is a man.
That makes ordinary men like us even lower.
I learned everything in the Army.
We killed, looted and raped by His Imperial Majesty's orders.
We chopped off heads.
My troop stabbed one helpless man.
We coerced others into a cave to burn.
And we crushed the heads of some with rocks.
We shot injured POWs and men who'd surrendered.
69 of us gang-raped two women.
We looted and set the whole village on fire.
His Imperial Majesty did not issue such orders.
They said that the superior officers' orders were His Majesty's.
You idiot!
Killing in war is different...
from killing civilians in peacetime.
The difference between a Medal of Honour and a death sentence.
Right.
You do understand.
But, Officer...
when we killed those people in China, it wasn't in combat.
They weren't soldiers, but civilians...
and women and children.
The war was on.
If you kill in war, you're still a criminal.
Like the war criminals at the tribunal.
If Japan had won,
Nimitz, MacArthur and Roosevelt would've been found guilty.
But, sir...
if General Tojo was tried, how come the Emperor was spared?
Why did they stop fighting?
The orders were to fight to the end.
You wanted to die so badly?
Don't worry...
I'm sure you'll hang.
Banzai to the Emperor!
"Yoshio Ohira Arrested for Killing 7 Women"
Obstetrics Clinic
I'm sorry, Mr. Nomura.
I failed to conceive a half-breed baby.
I'm having a Japanese baby.
I'm sure you don't mind.
Noriko Eguchi
Masatoshi Nagase
Jun Murakami
Subtitles transcribed and timed by lordretsudo
Produced by Kazutaka Katashima & Ken Terawaki
Music by Shinji Aoyama & Isao Yamada
Cinematography: Atsuhiro Nabeshima
Editor: Tomoko Hiruta
Art Direction: Toshihiro Isomi
Screenplay by Haruhiko Arai & Futoshi Nakano
Based on the novel by Ango Sakaguchi
Directed by Junichi Inoue