Caterpillar

Koji Wakamatsu's Caterpillar takes place during World War II, with Japanese war hero Kyuzo (Shima Ônishi) returning from the Chinese battlefront with severe injuries. Kyuzo has lost arms, legs and hearing in the conflict, but is designated as a “war god” and is presented during propaganda rallies. Kyuzo is also a horrible husband: before the war, he beat his wife Shigeko (Shinobu Terajima) for not producing children; now, in his disabled state, he endlessly demands that Shigeko feed his sexual needs, and continues his abusive behavior through insults and spitting. Shigeko, however, can only tolerate so much in her miserable existence. Caterpillar clearly aims to present a story of emotional disaster stemming from wartime imperialism and ultra-nationalist patriotism, but it's an extremely unpleasant watch, full of sexual violence (including flashbacks of Kyuzo raping a Chinese girl during the war) and utterly crass framing of the sex between the limbless Kyuzo and his increasingly agitated wife. Wakamatsu, a veteran of Japan's soft-core pink movie genre, reportedly shot this film in 12 days on a $120,000 budget; unfortunately, the lack of visual style only reinforces the lack of subtlety here. Optional. (P. Hall)