Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2010

©若松プロダクション

Koji Wakamatsu’s films from the 1960s were plotless orgies of sex and violence (and sexual violence). They shocked, mystified and scandalized the entire country, never more so than when Affairs within Walls (1965) became one of the first Japanese films to be accepted at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival. In fact, Wakamatsu’s entire oeuvre reflects his radical leftist politics, delivering implicit attacks on all forms of authority. In some ways, Caterpillar is the culmination of his career. Also invited to the Berlin Film Fest, it tells the story of Kurokawa (Shima Ohnishi), an Imperial Army soldier who rapes and massacres his way through occupied China. After returning home limbless and gruesomely scarred, he’s revered as a “soldier of god.” Long-suffering wife Shigeko (Shinobu Terajima, who won the Silver Bear for best actress at the Berlin fest for the role) must cater to his every need, usually sexual. Caterpillar’s condemnation of Japanese imperialism, war crimes and blind acceptance of authority, as well as sexual violence against women, is powerful and explicit. Laced with archival footage, this film is nothing short of a masterpiece. (85 min)