To Live is Hell - Bohachi, Clan of the Forgotten Eight

This is a twisted jidaigeki film from 1973, directed by Ishii Teruo. A ronin (well played by Tanba Tetsuro) has been terrorizing the countryside with his cruel acts of violence. The local government has sent men out to kill him, but the ronin defeats every man who tries to stop him. After a furiously bloody opening sequence, where blood sprays like geysers and limbs fly free, Tetsuro mentally grows weary of all the violence, and tries to kill himself by drowning, throwing himself off of a bridge and into the cold waters below. But he is rescued, by two lovely prostitutes who are members of a local gang, the Bohachi. The second in command shows the ronin around the premises, explaining their philosophy, which amounts to an anti-code of honor, denying God and spiritualism, showing no loyalty or friendship, embracing our animal instincts. Women are shown being publicly humiliated, tortured and debased as they are inducted into the clan. The ronin is asked if he would consider joining the group, and Tetsuro agrees. Part of his initiation is to help a member collect debts, and they go into town, finding a young woman who has not paid. She is captured and run through the wringer. After being defiled, she is to be sold off at auction to her first customer as a prostitute. The ronin is given 50 ryo for his initial services, which he uses to buy the girl after a frantic auction. But he does nothing to her. Morning comes and finding that he has not taken her, the Bohachi fails him in his initiation test -- apparently, the whole abduction was a set up, a test to see if he could be like them. Even the woman was in on it, herself a prostitute of the clan. He is sent out into the town, where soldiers are waiting. After a brief skirmish, an elderly man interrupts the action -- he is the Chief of the Bohachi clan, and to prevent further violence, he states to the official that the ronin is not only protected by the clan, he has been made a member. The Chief wields considerable political power, so the official has no choice but to leave, taking the soldier with him. Back inside, the Chief explains the local situation: During the construction of the city, there was great outbreaks of violence among the men. An official, reviewing the situation, came up with the idea of bringing thousands of women to the area, so the men could work their aggressions elsewhere. And so prostitution flourished in the city, with hundreds of groups and thousands of freelancers vying for business. The Bohachi, having one of the more successful groups, are seeking total control of the business. The Chief asks the ronin to be their hatchet man, going out to kill every man who engages with a woman of a certain group. The ronin consents, and in short order businesses are closed, men fearing for their lives, and women being assimilated into the Bohachi. Soon the red light district is deserted. They retaliate by attempting to assassinate the ronin; they fail. A government official later breaks up a fight between the two groups, stating that the chancellor will hear both sides and determine the outcome. There is a compromise, and the red light district is reopened, but to conditions that clearly favor the Bohachi. The Chief in return is forced to sacrifice the ronin. The Bohachi prostitutes seduce him with opium and their bodies, but he is more resilient than they thought -- he kills the group of women, and forces the Chief at gunpoint to smoke the opium. It is more than his system can handle, and the Chief is destroyed, tossed into a cell in the lower chambers, where a woman diseased with syphillis awaits. The ronin leaves the compound, and is attacked by the soldiers. The film ends with the ronin still standing, prepared to meet his end, but not before taking as many of them down with him.

This is a wild, visually arresting movie that suffers from a meandering plot. The first half hour is pure exploitation, with plenty of naked flesh and rutting bodies. The final hour runs like a variation of a classic samurai film - the ronin as a catalyst for the bubbling local unrest, though in this case it is taken to nihilistic ends; the Bohachi seeking total power through the destruction of its citizens. There is a lot of shifting moods in the film, and visually, it runs through so many effects, all gorgeous, at times theatrical, with color shifts of spotlight, fade to black, slow motion. I don't know if it all works. It is meant to show that the ronin's life on earth was indeed a living hell, and in that sense it works. I have problems with the Bohachi clan, as they are too one dimensional in their cruelty. They end up acting like any other high powered clan in a samurai film. Ishii's films during this period were of wild creativity, at the expense of story, and this is no exception.