Patriotism

I have been long interested in seeing Yukio Mishima's film version (1966) of his short story Patriotism-The Rite of Love and Death (Yukoku). Criterion even put out a restored edition of the film. However, I was able to find it on YouTube. it is a silent film with a music score to accompany it. Thus, I was surprised to find English intertitles used through out the film. The story is a simple one where a patriotic soldier, played by Mishima himself, who has a beautiful wife he loves is left out of a failed coup d'etat by his comrades decides to kill himself rather than be privy to he punishment of the men he sees as patriots. his wife has agreed to follow him into the next world. They make love and perform their last rites. it is shot entirely in black and white and displays an artistic sensibility in tune with the cinematic conventions of the golden age of Japanese cinema. There is exquisite framing of shots and traces of Japanese culture abound from writing of the last rites in calligraphy, the calligraphy scroll hanging on the wall, the traditional harikiri, and the final shot of husband and wife lying in the raked gravel of a zen garden. It was executed better than I expected, but fully loaded with Mishima's personal longing for death at his own hand that he realizes in the end.