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