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Although not on the same level as his masterpieces such as “Onibaba” and “The Naked Island”, “Human” is still a very competent work, both as a stark survival drama and as an allegory on humanity as a concept. While it failed to gain commercial or critical traction upon release, with the exception of two local awards for Taiji Tonoyama, it has since earned a place in discussions about politically charged Japanese cinema and experimental narrative techniques. The movie was distributed by the Art Theater Guild.

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The story is based on Yaeko Nogami’s homonymous novel and unfolds as follows: three men, captain Kamegoro, Hachizo, and Sankichi, set out in a small, worn-down boat on a routine trip to collect cargo from a neighboring island and return to their village within two days. At the last minute, a local woman,...

The issue of the Zainichi Koreans was one that interested Nagisa Oshima significantly, with him having shot the TV documentary “Forgotten Soldiers” in 1963 and the experimental short “Diary of Yunbogi” in 1965. Two events revolving around the problems of Koreans in Japan, the Kim Hiro and the Komatsugawa Incident, were also roots of inspiration for him, resulting in two films, “Death by Hanging” and “Three Resurrected Drunkards” both of which use irony, theatricality and intense avant-garde elements to portray his take on the subject.

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The overall directorial approach here becomes apparent from the beginning, as it shows three Japanese students at the beach, reenacting one of the most famous pictures of the Vietnam war, before they decide to strip to their underwear and go for a swim. While they are swimming, a hand emerges from the sand and steals their clothes,...