The Catch

1961 [JAPANESE]

Drama / War

4
IMDb Rating 6.7/10 10 355 355

prisoner of war japanese new wave

Plot summary

Towards the end of WWII, a black American pilot is captured and imprisoned by rural Japanese villagers, who await official instructions as to how to proceed with their 'catch'.

Director

Nagisa Ôshima Photo
Nagisa Ôshima

Top cast

Jun Hamamura Photo
Jun Hamamura as Farmer works for Kazumasa
Sadako Sawamura Photo
Sadako Sawamura as Katsu, Kazumasa's wife
Hugh Hurd Photo
Hugh Hurd as Black Soldier
Teruko Kishi Photo
Teruko Kishi as Masu Tsukada
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
966.34 MB
1280*534
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 45 min
Seeds 1
1.75 GB
1920*800
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 45 min
Seeds 5

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by filmreviewradical 3 / 10

The airman's burial.

In the dying months of World War 2 Japanese villagers capture a black U. S. Air Force pilot ( Hugh Hurd) and argue over what to do with him. Filmed in black and white, released in 1961, and based on a story by Kenzaburo Oe, Japanese 'new wave' director Nagisa Oshima's film is a bit of a mess, at times incoherent, and with uninteresting self-centred melodramatics( and hysterics,mixed with sake) among the villagers. The outsider/prisoner of course acts as a catalyst for change and revelations among the villagers in their small rural community, in a familiar seeming story in which the prisoner provides a source of fascination and observational amusement for the whole village.
Reviewed by Naje87 5 / 10

A Missed Opportunity

"Shiiku (The Catch)" from 1961 presents an opportunity that, regrettably, goes unexplored in its execution. The film introduces an intriguing premise - a rural Japanese village capturing an enemy pilot, a personification of the monstrous devastation wrought upon their cities and people. For the villagers, the pilot represents the face of destruction, a living embodiment of the bombings that incinerated hundreds of thousands of their fellow citizens.The film has an exceptional premise: what happens when such a 'monster' is captured by a village, and the villagers are compelled to coexist with him? Could he comprehend the gravity of the pain and suffering he inflicted from the aloofness of his aircraft? Could the villagers understand that this man, who is among those who caused them and their loved ones suffering, is also just a human being, complete with dreams and emotions?Regrettably, "Shiiku (The Catch)" sidesteps this intriguing moral exploration in favor of focusing on the internal conflicts among the villagers. The complex juxtaposition of viewing the pilot as both a monstrosity and a fellow human, ripe with potential for deep reflection on the nature of humanity, war, and forgiveness, is largely unmined. It's a missed opportunity, indeed, leaving audiences longing for a more profound exploration of the tension and contradictions inherent in such an extraordinary situation.
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