Patriotism (film)



Patriotism (憂國) is a 1966 Japanese short film directed by Yukio Mishima. The English-language release was originally titled The Rite of Love and Death and the French-language release was originally titled Les Rites de L'Amour et de la Mort. It is based on Mishima's short story Patriotism (憂国), published in 1961.

Plot
After participating in the Ni Ni Roku Incident of February 1936, Lieutenant Shinji Takeyama has been given orders to execute some of his fellow mutineers. He decides to commit seppuku, and his wife Reiko vows to kill herself with him. They make passionate love, then commit suicide.

Style
Patriotism is a silent, thirty-minute black-and-white film with long expository intertitles elaborating on the story and its historical background. It contains visual references to Noh theatre, as Mishima admired the traditional style and wrote several plays in the genre. Set in a single room, it is composed of static wide shots and lingering close-ups, most of which obscure Mishima's eyes.

Cast

 * Yukio Mishima as Lieutenant Shinji Takeyama
 * Yoshiko Tsuruoka as Reiko