UK Premiere

Short Synopsis

Tackling the immensely emotive subject of terrorism through an abstract, existentialist framework.

Review

During a suicide attack on an airport, the hand grenade of ‘M’, one of three terrorists, malfunctions and he is captured. Exposed to maltreatment in prison he slowly loses his grip on reality, as he is forced to confront his ideological convictions.

Director Masao Adachi is a living legend of Japanese political cinema, known for his experimental film work in the early 60s and his collaborations with such important directors as Nagisa Oshima and Koji Wakamatsu in films like Diary of a Shinjuku Thief and Ecstasy of Angels. In 1974, disillusioned with Japanese cinema, Adachi left Japan for the Middle East, and joined the pro-Palestinian cause. After being extradited back to Japan in 2001, Adachi’s first film in 35 years is inspired by the Japanese Red Army member Kozo Okamoto, who was imprisoned by the Israelis after perpetrating the infamous massacre at Lod Airport in 1972.

Prisoner / Terrorist is not concerned with recreating the true life details of the attack or with Okamoto’s subsequent incarceration. Neither is it interested in condoning or condemning his actions. Instead he tackles the immensely emotive subject of terrorism through a more abstract, existentialist framework. Attempting to analyse the internal world of imagination and doctrine of a man driven to extreme acts through his slavish belief in political dogma, and how this world threatens to collapse under solitary confinement as he pays for his crimes. A hugely provocative and ambitious work, Prisoner / Terrorist is guaranteed to provoke a great deal of controversy and debate.

Jasper Sharp