Plan 75

By a large margin, Japan is the nation with the oldest population in the world, which has dire economic consequences in the future. Director/screenwriter Chie Hayakawa drew on this burgeoning reality and fashioned this quietly provocative 2022 character drama based on the dystopian idea of Plan 75, a government program that gives people 75 or older the option of euthanized suicide. It's a macabre (though not far-fetched) concept that Hayakawa cleverly turns into a subtle thriller based on the power of mass suggestion. The main protagonist is Michi, a lonely 78-year-old hotel cleaner who suddenly loses her job and her home, making her a prime candidate for the program. There are other key characters - a young, conflicted Plan 75 employee and a Filipina service worker who helps dispose the remains - but the focus is primarily on Michi played affectingly by Chieko Baisho. To its detriment, the film has a relentlessly somber tone. It could've benefited from a few scares or even laughs. There were just too many lengthy silent shots of Michi contemplating her fateful decision.

A slow, bleak, and ultimately decent film, Plan 75 apparently belongs in the science-fiction genre, but it's one of those uncomfortably realistic and plausible sci-fi movies that is far from fun or adventurous. It barely even feels like it takes place in the future at all, following several people in Japan who are all involved with a new government program that encourages elderly people (who exceed the age of 75) to end their lives via euthanasia, apparently because of overpopulation concerns.

Not only is the premise bleak, but the slow pace also ensures this is a hard watch. It kind of makes you sit and feel discomfort at the whole thing, and never really suggests that there's much hope for some kind of upbeat conclusion. It's all very muted and quietly sad. I don't think that makes the film boring on it's own, but there was something lacking to make it hit a little harder or feel a bit more engaging. The slowness and uneasiness was definitely intentional, to a certain extent, but I also can't say the approach grabbed me all the time.

But it's decently made and looks at something that I fear could come true, to some extent. It's dark and sad without being a tearjerker, or having much of an emotional release. It's overall probably one of the hardest types of movies to watch, and while I didn't love it, I respect it.

A difficult subject of the loneliness and desolation of growing old when you are on your own and aggravated by a social & government encouragement of sacrifice any financial burden on the younger generation because you are now not contributing to society (this is not actual circumstances but we may not be far from it yet). It follows the story of 3 main characters (it actually touches much more than 3 different roles/characters in the story) of how this government funded Plan 75 (which because of it success, it is being considered for lowering from age 75 to 65!) is being marketed like a 5-star flan with compensation of money to use before volunteering to die, the gross act of dyibg itself in mass partitioned premises, the disposal of the bodies possessions, mass cremations and ashes lanong in landfills. The main 3 characters include a 78 lady who faces life alone and has to decide to choose the Plan or not, a young guy who markers the solan and a worker who has to handle the dead bodies and their possessions. It's a slow moving story but a hauntingly rewarding one. Remember - if you are lucky, you grow old. Even if you have children, you may be lonely. Even if you have friends, they may die first. A thought provoking story indeed.

The opening scene of "Plan 75" is very scary. It consists of a suicide attack on a Japanese nusring home to draw attention to the fact that elderly people (in the eyes of the perpetrator) put too heavy a burden on the Japanese economy and the younger generations.

After this shocking opening the film slows down. The Japanese government starts a program in which citizens from age 75 onwards can opt for free euthanasia. The film folows two participants and three employees of this program.

The film deserves high praise for the courage to select such a controversial topic. Speaking of the Dutch context, beginning with a situation in which euthanasia was only possible in the last stage of an incurable illness the scope of euthanasia has grown wider and wider. As a result the judgement of the patient has grown in importance versus the judgement of the physician.

In "Plan 75" there is no judgement of a physician at all. Everybody above 75 who wants an euthanasia can get it for free. It then becomes crucial that the free will of the participants really is their free will, and in this respect the film succeeds in sowing the necessary doubt. The main motives of the two participants are poverty, loneliness and a feeling of guilt towards the younger generation. The first two may result from cuts in government spending on social welfare, the last one has more to do with social pressure than with free will.

Maybe even more interesting than the participants are the employees of the Plan 75 program. In the film there are three of them: a recruiter, a call center agent and someone sorting out the belongings of the already dead participants. What is it like to recruit someone for his own dead? What sort of people have 5 minute conversations with participants with the explicit assignment to prevent withdrawals (to which participants are legally entitled) at all costst? The disturbing answer is that the employees are normal, even nice, people doing their job and earning a living. It nearly reminded me about what Hannah Arends had to say about the banality of evil.

Only when they are confronted with an ethical complication the employees wake up and begin to ask themselves questions. In the film the recruitment employee gets his own uncle as one of his clients and the call center agent meets with her own client in real life (what the program strictly forbids).

As I said at the beginning of this review, after a scary opening scene the tempo of the movie slows down. One can even ask the question if it doesn't slow down too much. I am not a fan of movies going in the overdrive, but this movie presents a very controversial topic in a way that makes it almost natural. On the other side one can also argue that this is precisely a strong point of the movie. It is for everybody to decide for oneself on this issue. I have not made my final judgement on this point yet.

In my reviews I like to make comparisons with other movies. For "Plan 75" a comparison with "The ballad of Narayama" (1958, Keisuke Kinoshita & 1983, Shohei Imamura) is very obvious. These films are about the Japanese mythical custom of "Ubasute" in which an elderly person (in the films of age 70) is carried to the top of a mountain to die. The elderly people in these films are putting pressure not so much on the social welfare system (the films are situated in the middle ages) but on the food supply.

Given the above comparisons one can wonder if "Plan 75" is a film specific to the Japanese context. I am afraid it is not. Yes, Japan is one of the most aged countries in the World, but it certainly is not the only aging country. Yes, the Japanese people do have a collectivist culture with a tradition of self-sacrifice for the group. Remembering the discussions around old people occupying an intensive car bed during the Covid crisis also this sentiment is not only applicable in Japan.

I enjoyed Plan 75, it's a strong commentary on ageism. Humans are so much more than the benefit or drain they have on a society. The few individuals who took the time to get to know a senior in the film, found this out. Is a society that doesn't take care of its elderly and poor really one worth living in? I personally think assisted suicide should be available for those suffering. At the same time the way the government in the film drove the elderly to death was disgusting. I think the ending gives hope that humanity is not truly lost. We can still wake up and recognize each other's value as humans.