The Yakuza Papers revisited: a shocking tale of violence and betrayal in Japan’s criminal underworld
Based on the memoirs of imprisoned gangster Kozo Mino, this uncompromising crime thriller pulls no punches in its portrayal of savagery, violence and deceit.
Until the early 1970s, yakuza were portrayed in Japanese cinema as honorable rogues who adhered to a code of honour and integrity. In 1973, Kinji Fukasaku’s The Yakuza Papers (aka Battles Without Honour and Humanity) reversed that image. Ninety minutes of constant bloodletting, treachery and hyper masculine posturing quickly dispel any notion that these men are anything more than uneducated thugs and criminals.
Based on the memoirs of imprisoned gangster Kozo Mino, the film tells the story of Shozo Hirono (Bunta Sugawara), a former soldier in post-war Hiroshima whose courage and willingness to engage in violence get him noticed, then incarcerated. Upon his release, he is accepted not only into a gang, but into an underworld of constantly shifting allegiances, deceit and pettiness.
The film starts with an image of the Hiroshima mushroom cloud, and the opening credits feature a montage of the city at the end of the second world war, immediately after the bombing. The themes of violence, chaos and the danger of adhering to lofty moral codes in times of raw survival are established early on: in the first 10 minutes, we see assaults, an attempted rape, amputations, a revenge killing and imprisonment.
The rest of the film is even more unrelenting. Fukasaku crafts an unflinching glimpse into the realities of Japan’s postwar underworld, and, by extension, postwar society. Weaving together plot points of crime, politics and family, he deconstructs the gangster mythos and implicitly indicts the society that allowed it to exist.
The Yakuza Papers plays like a documentary, with deeply affecting results. Events, whether mundane or savage, are presented in a matter-of-fact manner that can be unnerving. The film’s chosen style helps amplify its message and impact. In addition, Fukasaku’s use of graphic violence, brisk editing, and handheld camera work pulls us into the world of the gangsters and traps us there.
The Yakuza Papers transcends its sometimes old-fashioned visual appearance with a story, actors and direction that have stopped it from dating. It is the first entry in a five-part epic that redefined the yakuza genre.
The Yakuza Papers, April 26, 7.30pm, Hong Kong Film Archive. Part of the Ways of the Underworld: Hong Kong Gangster Film as a Genre programme
