Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973) – K. Fukasaku

One of the key Yakuza films that sought to shatter the myth of chivalrous behaviour amongst gangsters that had heretofore been portrayed in film and to replace it with its opposite: betrayal, paranoia, greed, and, yes, a lack of honor and humanity.  This was the first big hit for director Kinji Fukasaku (later famous in his old age for Battle Royale) and star Bunta Sugawara and it spawned four sequels.  Not surprisingly, the film is extremely bloody and brutal, as we follow the Yamamori family’s birth, rise, and eventual splintering.  Nothing is glamourized: from the early days of the post-WWII black market to the later days of entrepreneurial business ventures jointly operated with politicians, central characters are just as likely to get rubbed out by a backstabbing surprise attack.  Although, at first, I thought I might get lost trying to identify the myriad sub-bosses, eventually I was able to grasp the various players and the Shakespearian machinations of the plot (thanks also to the subtitled announcements of each character’s death, accompanied by a fanfare of trumpets). Gritty, violent, not for all tastes, but a touchstone in this genre.