Patriotism: The Criterion Collection (DVD)
APPROX. 27 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 1966 - MPA RATING: NR
" The 27-minute short is pared down to the point where its purity becomes quite chilling.
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"Patriotism" (1966) AKA "Yukoko" AKA "The Rite of Love and Death" is a curiosity for several reasons. First, it is the only film (co-)directed by Yukio Mishima. Second, Mishima adapted his own short story into a silent Noh stage performance. Third, and most significant of all, it provides an eerie preview of his spectacular public suicide just four years later.
The 27-minute short is pared down to the point where its purity becomes quite chilling, especially considering the artist´s ultimate fate. Mishima writes, directs and stars in the film as a Lieutenant Takeyama who is a member of a secret society that staged a coup in 1936, killing several Cabinet members while claiming loyalty to the Emperor. Takeyama did not participate directly in the coup, and was not implicated when it failed. Instead, as a member of the palace guard he was tasked with the execution of his comrades-in-arms. Unable to betray his compatriots, he chooses the only honorable alternative, committing suicide (seppuku). The film shows his meticulous preparations for death with the help and ultimate participation of his beautiful wife Reiko (Yoshiko Tsuruoka.)
As a youth, Mishima was frail, but he became enamored with body-building and, in turn, with his own body. The film highlights Mishima´s exhibitionist streak; his pristine body is one of the stars of the show. A static but passionate love scene forms the transitional center piece as Takeyama indulges in one last physical act before bidding farewell to his beautiful body. It´s no coincidence that Mishima´s body is displayed more prominently than his lovely costar´s in this scene.
As he would do in real life, Mishima (as Takeyama) wears his military uniform as he carefully prepares to disembowel himself. It´s a brutal scene, but highly aestheticized, an effect underscored by the prominent use of Wagner on the soundtrack. Personally, I find this romanticism of death (suicide or otherwise) to be nauseating, but it reflects Mishima´s own oft-stated views about the glory of dying with honor, and particularly his fascination with the ritual act of seppuku. The fact that Mishima hope the film would inspire a young generation provides an even more disturbing glimpse into his psyche.
After Mishima´s public suicide in 1970, all copies of this film (quite a success in Japan in 1966) were destroyed though (according to the blurb on the Criterion set) the negatives were preserved and the film "resurfaced" in 2005.
"Patriotism" is a rather odd choice as a stand-alone release by Criterion. It´s clearly intended as a companion piece to the release of Paul Schrader´s "Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters" on the same day, but I have to wonder why it wasn´t simply included as an extra on that two-disc set. Did Criterion have too much material to pack into the admittedly loaded "Mishima" release, and decided to release this short (pumped up with some lengthy but only moderately interesting bonus material) with its own spine number? It´s certainly a "significant" film as Mishima´s only turn as a director (the film was co-directed with Domoto Masaki) but it´s hardly a masterpiece of cinema. Rather, its power derives from the fact that, unknown to viewers at the time, it was a chilling manifesto that laid out in detail Mishima´s ideas about patriotism which were, in turn, tied in intimately with his plans for his own death. I would have preferred to see one of the B-gangster films Mishima starred in during the 60s, but that´s just me.
