Caterpillar Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Caterpillar Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 27, 2012

Winner of Silver Bear Award for Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival, Japanese director Koji Wakamatsu's "Kyatapira" a.k.a "Caterpillar" (2010) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Hong Kong-based distributors Panorama. Unfortunately, there are no supplemental features on the disc. In Japanese and Mandarin, with optional English and Traditional Chinese subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The War God

The second Sino-Japanese War, 1940. Lieutenant Kyuzo Kurokawa (Shima Ohnishi, United Red Army) is brought home by two young soldiers. He has lost his arms and legs as well as his ability to speak. He is also deaf and his face is badly burned.

Shigeko (Shinobu Terajima, Akame 48 Waterfalls, Riding Alone For Thousands of Miles) nearly loses her mind when she sees her husband – or what’s left of him. Eventually, she is calmed down by relatives and friends who tell her that she should be proud because Kyuzo is a real hero. Shortly after, the Japanese propaganda machine declares the man ‘War God’ and places his picture in every major newspaper in the country.

In the days and weeks that follow Shigeko struggles enormously - she works on the rice fields and at the same time feeds and cleans Kyuzo. She also makes love to him as often as she can. He desires her - because for the few minutes when their bodies merge he feels alive - and she does her best to be a good wife.

Everyone in the village constantly reminds Shigeko that she must continue to do the things she does because it is her duty to the Empire. She believes them. When other women whose husbands have been drafted occasionally stop by to see Kyuzo , she smiles and shows them his medals.

The few men left in the village, who are either seriously sick or too old to carry a rifle, regularly organize training sessions during which boys, girls, and women are instructed how to fight the enemy. They also sing patriotic songs and wave flags.

As more and more news about the Japanese Army’s triumphs reach the village, Kyuzo slowly begins to lose his mind. During the day he sees the faces of the men he has killed, while at night, while making love to Shigeko, he remembers the women he has raped.

Controversial Japanese director Koji Wakamatsu’s Caterpillar carries a message similar to that of Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July, but its main protagonist has little in common with Tom Cruise’s Ron Kovic. Kyuzo is greeted as a hero, but as the film progresses it becomes obvious that he is actually a monster.

Though the majority of the film follows the difficult relationship between Shigeko and Kyuzo, the focus of attention is clearly on the Japanese propaganda machine and the brainwashing tactics it used during the Sino-Japanese War. Kyuzo may not have been a perfect husband – flashbacks reveal that before the draft he harassed Shigeko because she could not get pregnant – but before the war he was still human. In the army, he was trained to hate, kill, and believe in lies that would excuse the crimes he would eventually commit.

The film's only weak spot is the coda, where Wakamatsu does a quick review of well known facts about the second Sino-Japanese War, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Emperor Hirohito’s acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration.

Wakamatsu shot Caterpillar on an extremely small budget in less than two weeks. The film had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, where it was nominated for Golden Berlin Bear Award and won Silver Berlin Bear Award for Best Actress (Terajima).

Caterpillar Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Koji Wakamatsu's Caterpillar arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Hong Kong-based distributors Panorama.

Caterpillar was shot digitally and on an extremely small budget - and it definitely shows. Depending on how prominent light is, some sequences could look a bit soft. Detail and clarity, however, are pleasing, even during the darkest indoor sequences. Generally speaking, contrast levels are stable. The color-scheme favors a variety of light and soft grays, blues, and browns. For the record, I did not see any serious banding or aliasing patterns to report in this review. There are no serious stability issues either. All in all, even though I have not seen Caterpillar theatrically, I believe that the Blu-ray accurately replicates its intended look. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location).

Caterpillar Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: Japanese LPCM 2.0 (with small portions of Mandarin). For the record, Panorama have provided optional English and Traditional Chinese subtitles for the main feature.

Caterpillar is primarily a dialog driven film. Unsurprisingly, the loseless track serves it quite well. There are a few sequences where Sally Kubota and Yumi Okada's score has an important role (the flashbacks), but the dynamic intensity is quite modest. The dialog is always crisp, clean, stable, and easy to follow. The English translation is good.

Caterpillar Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this Blu-ray disc.

Caterpillar Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Until recently the films of Japanese director Koji Wakamatsu were virtually impossible to see in North America. Now his United Red Army and Caterpillar are finally available on DVD via local distributors Kino Lorber (Wakamatsu's controversial early films, however, are still hard to track down, especially his pink films). Caterpillar, which is released on Blu-ray by Hong Kong-Based distributors Panorama, is a powerful and very angry film that effectively condemns Japan's imperialistic past. It is not for everyone, but it is most definitely worth seeing. RECOMMENDED.