[KineJapan] Shusenjo lawsuit

[Rob Schwartz]

My review in the April edition of Metropolis magazine:

Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of The Comfort Women Issue

By ROB SCHWARTZ



One of the most painful lingering controversies of Japanese imperialist and
WWII history is the issue of so-called comfort women, or women forced into
sexual slavery. Despite the Japanese government’s apology in 1993 the Abe
administration has been insisting that the wartime government did nothing
wrong and that the brothels they set up were staffed by willing
participants. This is counter to much historical evidence that women from
around Asia were conscripted against their will and the governments of
Korea and China in particular have been active in erecting memorials for
the affected women and demanding compensation.



Otherwise apolitical Japanese-American director Miki Dezaki was drawn into
the heated political fray when he posted a video on racism in contemporary
Japan. This led the right wing in the country to attempt to bury him with
threats and online attacks so he committed himself to researching the
comfort women topic. This documentary is the fruitful result. Showing how
the issue affected women from as far-flung nations as Korea, China, Taiwan,
Malaysia, Burma, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Micronesia the breadth and
detail of this work makes it surpass other documentaries, such as the
Japanese-produced *Riben Guize* (Japanese Devils). That pic exclusively
interviewed ex-Japanese imperial army soldiers on exactly what they did
while occupying China, in all its graphic minutiae.



For Shusenjo, Dezaki interviewed dozens of people to hear both sides of the
story and dig for the historical truth hidden beneath propaganda and anger
for more than sixty years now. He exposes that fact that each side has
hedged toward a narrative that doesn’t capture how complicated and messy
the situation really is. Dezaki takes on crucial issues such as how the
women were actually recruited, what kind of eyewitness accounts exist, and
what kind of government documents remain. This issue is even more pertinent
in the light of Japanese media accepting the government version of events
as well as changing terminology around the matter. Dezaki has created
crucial viewing for those concerned with the political realities of Japan,
past, present and future.



122 min.


Rob Schwartz
*+81-90-6541-8895*
Wechat/Whatsapp/KakaoTalk/Line/Viber:
gangamati


On Thu, Jun 20, 2019 at 12:36 AM Desser, David M via KineJapan <
kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:

> Not sure why someone would imagine that a filmed interview would not be
> screened publicly.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jun 19, 2019, at 8:29 AM, Gerow Aaron via KineJapan <
> kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:
>
> Right wingers, including the American Kent Gilbert, have sued to stop the
> screening of Shusenjo, a documentary directed by Miki Dezaki. Although they
> were interviewed in the documentary about the comfort women issue, which
> has been quite successful in Japan, they assert that they were not told it
> would be released publicly, and that they have been defamed by being called
> historical revisionists, etc. Dezaki has already given a press conference
> in which he stated that everyone was made aware the film would likely be
> shown publicly, and even stated that Gilbert sent him e-mails
> congratulating him on the public release.
>
>
> https://www.bengo4.com/c_18/n_9780/?fbclid=IwAR2Lv8zJrrLZI5UAdAMm0siz9wGpUHrneWPqs_HV7H3DMyslYjQk4KphExs
>
> Here’s Dezaki’s YouTube response to the initial allegations:
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WdVrzp40bg&t=24s
>
> It doesn’t seem that those suing have any legs to stand on, and that this
> is just an effort to suppress criticism of the comfort women issue. This
> threat to documentary and freedom of speech is of great concern.
>
>
> Aaron Gerow
> Professor
> Film and Media Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
> Director of Graduate Studies, Film and Media Studies
> Yale University
> 143 Elm Street, Room 210
> PO Box 208324
> New Haven, CT 06520-8324
> USA
> Phone: 1-203-432-7082
> Fax: 1-203-432-6729
> e-mail: aaron.gerow at yale.edu
> website: www.aarongerow.com
>
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