violence - FilmRoot

Hana-bi (Japan)

Ever heard of a Yakuza film? The Yakuza are the Japanese gangsters much like the Mafia in Italy or the Triads in China and Hong Kong. Intrigued? Hana-bi is a Yakuza film with more than the usual violence. You’ll meet a former cop who turns to the Yakuza for loans to help his dying wife. Watch the film to find out if he manages to pay of his debts whilst learning about his own life.

Why Watch Hana-bi?

It’s a sophisticated Yakuza film
To see one of the best gangsters on film in some kick-ass sunglasses!
Takeshi Kitano won the Golden Lion for this film, establishing him as one of Japan’s top film-makers
Kitano even painted all the paintings seen in this film!

The Breakdown

Hana-bi starts with Joe Hisaishi’s film score (he’s the guy that produced most of the sound of Studio Ghibli) playing over a few pictures of saints (which Kitano starts with in a few of his films). In the opening scene, two men in blue boiler suits are staring silently at a guy in a suit and sunglasses in a half empty parking lot. The soundtrack stops as one of the guys in blue slaps a wet cloth onto a car bonnet and starts cleaning. The guy in the suit watches him clean for a minute before kicking him off of the car.

The guy in the suit and sunglasses is Nishi, a violent former cop, and the main protagonist of this film. We learn about his past in his flashbacks. Nishi has segmented flashbacks to the same event multiple times throughout the opening 30 minutes, but the whole flash back is not shown until later in the film. Early on, it shows two people being shot multiple times on the floor. It is not clear who is shooting them or why they are being shot but it obviously pains Nishi. We learn that he was held responsible for their deaths and relieved of his job.

Without a job, Nishi spends most of his time with his wife who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. He brings her cakes and puzzles but they never talk. He obviously cares for his wife, but his dead pan face makes it appear like he is begrudgingly keeping her company. As stated by his former colleague ‘work is all they have ever known’ so this unexpected free time to spend with their wives and their hobbies is unfamiliar. Without work they are lost.

Conclusion

Hana-bi is a stripped down Yakuza (Japanese Gangster) film. Instead of focusing on violence and gangs, Kitano chooses to focus on the impact of retirement. Nishi and his colleague are both forced out of their police jobs because of a tragic accident. Both of them cannot forget the accident and both of them do not know what to do with their free time.

The Battle of the Volcano – Experience the Chaos of Urban Warfare

The Battle of the Volcano Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

If you want to experience the chaos of urban warfare, you’ve come to the right place. The Battle of the Volcano relives the chaos of the Salvadorean Civil War through a mixture of live footage and re-enactments from the survivors. Parts of it are surreal and parts are shocking, as kids with guns take on the Capital City and the El Salvadorean government.

From: El Salvador, North America
Watch: Trailer, IMDB
Next: The Look of Silence, Winter on Fire, Monos

Read The Full Review

Uncertain Future – Political Unrest in Burundi

Image result for uncertain future munyaneza

Uncertain Future Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Uncertain Future gives you a rare look into the small country at the heart of Africa: Burundi. It takes place in 2015 when President Nkurunziza seeks to rule for a third term against the wishes of a lot of the citizens of Bujumbura (the capital). Get a first hand look at the protests and violence in Eddy Munyaneza’s brave documentary.

From: Burundi, Africa
Watch: Trailer, Amazon (Rent), Vimeo (Rent)
Next: Winter on Fire, The Square, Rosewater

House of My Fathers – Civil War Trauma in Sri Lanka

House of My Fathers Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

If you’re looking for a heart warming Sri Lankan film with widescreen shots of the beautiful Sri Lankan landscape, you’ve come to the wrong place. House of My Fathers deliberately uses a narrower screen (as you’ll see in the trailer) to focus your eye on the trauma from the Sri Lankan civil war. You’ll meet one man and one woman,one Sinhala and the other Tamil, who are sent to an island together to find peace for the two communities. It’s a contemporary myth/fable full of dreams and visions.

From: Sri Lanka, Asia
Watch: Trailer
Next: Ahlaam, Sleepwalking Land, Tanna

Medusa – AFI Fest 2021

Medusa is another genre-bending movie set in contemporary Brazil (see Bacurau, Good Manners, Executive Order, or Divine Love) that corresponds with the rise in the far right and radical Christianity in Brazil. The focus of this film is on how the patriarchy is upheld by radical Christian women

In modern day Brazil, a woman watches a sexy music video of a woman dancing on her way home on the night bus. When she gets off, she’s tailed by a gang of masked women. She tries to escape, but can’t. They gang up on her, beat her up, and force her to swear fealty to Jesus and to become a good Christian woman.

The attackers are Mariana and her female friends from the local evangelical church. Their horror-genre influenced masks are obviously intimidating. However, behind the mask they’re even more sinister. Instead of carrying faces that show years of trauma and fear they carry pristine smiles and clean pastel clothes. They look like a group of preppy high-school girls and not like your typical group of thugs. Their smiles and matching identity give them a cold collective assuredness that their violence is right and justified, when it isn’t. It also highlights a lack of individuality stemming from the strict codes of their social bubble – no one wants to stand out for fear of being identified with the other, so they all try to one-up each other in their devotional acts in order to maintain their social position. They’ve already started beating up people in the street, so what are they capable of next?

The design of the film makes it clear Mariana is brainwashed by her bubble of existence. The church she attends with her friends is flavored with hypnotizing 80’s music and dystopian neon lights and features coordinated song and dance routines that make them look robotic. Plus the microphone holding, slick talking, smartly dressed preacher gives off hints of snake oil salesmen before we see his ‘miracles.’ The whole radical Christian experience is designed to indoctrinate Mariana and her friends. Plus as a reward, they get friends like them, and corresponding male counterparts in the beefy ‘Watchmen’ group that attends their same church.

Problem is they can’t control everything in their own lives. They’re still victims to the patriarchy that plays them – both represented in the male religious pastor they fervently follow and the male ‘Watchmen’ they’re expected to date and marry. They can either continue to live for the radical Christian patriarchy and stay in their bubble, or break free by expanding their bubble until it pops.

Head to our AFI Fest 2021 Hub for more reviews and short films from AFI Fest 2021.