1. PATRIOTISM
or THE RITE OF LOVE AND DEATH
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2. Based on the Short Story
"PATRIOTISM" by YUKIO MISHIMA
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3. Produced, Directed, Acted and Written by
YUKIO MISHIMA
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4. Associate Producer
HIROAKI FUJII
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5. Associate Director
MASAKI DOMOTO
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6. Director of Photography
KIMIO WATANABE
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7. Lieutenant Takeyama
YUKIO MISHIMA
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8. Reiko, His Wife
YOSHIKO TSURUOKA
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9. In February 1936,
Tokyo was placed under martial law
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10. following a coup d'état executed
by a group of young military officers.
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11. They maintained that they were
far more loyal to the emperor
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12. than the corrupt cabinet members
they murdered.
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13. Lieutenant Takeyama was
a member of this secret society,
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14. but it was decided that he should not
participate in the coup d'état.
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15. The others did not want
to implicate him,
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16. because they knew how much he loved
Reiko, his beautiful young bride.
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17. It seemed at first
that the coup had been successful,
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18. but in a few days people began
to look on it as a minor uprising
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19. soon to be quelled
by an imperial injunction.
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20. Lieutenant Takeyama was still
a member of the palace guard.
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21. The time when he would have to fight
against his comrades-in-arms,
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22. to execute his closest friends
as rebels, was drawing near.
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23. The Rite of Love and Death
takes place on the Japanese Noh stage.
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24. CHAPTER I - REIKO
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25. Reiko, the lieutenant's wife,
has seen in her husband's face
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26. his resolution to die
as he leaves for the palace
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27. on the snowy morning
following the coup d'état.
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28. If he should fail to return alive,
she is determined to follow him in death.
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29. As she gathers the keepsakes she will
leave behind for her parents and friends,
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30. she calls up tender memories
of her husband's love...
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31. WHOLEHEARTED SINCERITY
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32. KEEPSAKES FROM REIKO
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33. CHAPTER II
THE LIEUTENANT'S RETURN
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34. Then, at midnight,
the snow still falling,
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35. Lieutenant Takeyama
suddenly appears at the door.
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36. The guard has been changed, and he
explains that he is free until the morning,
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37. when he must go to kill
his comrades-in-arms.
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38. "But I just can't do it!
I can't!"
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39. Takeyama, a dedicated soldier,
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40. cannot bear the thought
of killing his close friends
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41. if he wishes to remain loyal
to the emperor.
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42. The contradiction appalls him.
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43. As the descendant of a samurai family,
the only honorable course left him
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44. is to die by morning,
to commit hara-kiri.
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45. "I know how you feel,"
Reiko says quietly.
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46. "And I will follow you
wherever you go."
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47. Takeyama is overjoyed.
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48. "Thank you. We'll go together
to another world then.
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49. But please let me die first,
and then you follow. I mustn't fail."
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50. Their involuntary smiles reflect
an unfathomable mutual trust.
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51. Death is no longer terrifying.
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52. Reiko feels as she did
on her wedding night.
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53. CHAPTER III
THE FINAL LOVE
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54. This is pure and passionate
as a ritual conducted before the gods.
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55. They are able
for the first time in their lives
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56. to reveal unabashedly
their most secret desires and passions.
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57. First the lieutenant
and then Reiko,
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58. who has lost all her shyness
in the face of death,
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59. bids loving farewell to every
smallest detail of the other's flesh.
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60. CHAPTER IV
THE LIEUTENANT COMMITS HARA-KIRI
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61. "LONG LIVE THE IMPERIAL FORCES!"
LIEUTENANT SHINJI TAKEYAMA
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62. WHOLEHEARTED SINCERITY
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63. CHAPTER V
REIKO'S SUICIDE
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64. THE END
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