Synopsis
A prostitute is a woman too.
A young journalist interviews an elderly woman about being forced into prostitution in Borneo at a brothel called Sandakan No. 8.
Sandakan No. 8
Cast
Komaki Kurihara Yoko Takahashi Kinuyo Tanaka Ken Tanaka Masayo Umezawa Takiko Mizunoe Eiko Mizuhara Yoko Todo Yoko Nakagawa Eitarō Ozawa Hideo Sunazuka Mitsuo Hamada Kaneko Iwasaki Yukiko Yanagawa Tomoko Jinbo Takashi Ebata Torauemon Utazawa Kikuo Kaneuchi Shunsuke Kariya Teruko Kishi Mariko Kuzumi Junko Matsumoto Ichirō Nakatani Mariko Nonaka Mikio Shimizu Kinzō Shin Kin Sugai Chigusa Takayama Yasukiyo Umeno Show All…
Director
Producers
Writers
Editor
Cinematography
Assistant Director
Production Design
Composer
Studios
Country
Language
Alternative Titles
Sandakan hachibanshokan bohkyo, Brothel No. 8, Sandakan Haus N° 8, サンダカン八番娼館 望郷, Sandakan nr 8, Javna kuca br. 8, Brothel 8, Sandakan Haus Nr. 8, 望乡, Сандакан № 8, Sandakan N° 8, 산다칸 8번 창관, 망향
Releases by Date
Theatrical
-
Japan
Releases by Country
Japan
02 Nov 1974
- Theatrical
Popular reviews
More-
One of Kei Kumai occasional stabs ofconfronting Japan's amnesia. This one concerns the life story of a woman sold into overseas prostitution, but Kumai's treatment puts the focus as much into her current life as an ostracized reminder of the ugly past as in her tale. The movie is at its best in the current scenes a long complicated exchange between the woman and the young journalist listen to her story (who only reveals why she is there very late adding an extra layer to the many power imbalance throughout it). Sandakan No. 8 benefits a lot of from Kinuyo Tanaka's presence as the old woman as much her very good performance as the past associations she brings with her. Kumai approach can be very didactic, but his investigation has a lot offorce and anger.
-
Kei Kumai's adaptation of a controversial best selling book about a Japanese woman forced into prostitution on the island of Borneo in the early 20th Century is primarily a great story without necessarily being a great film. It does, however, afford one of the final opportunities to enjoy the screen acting talents of the wonderful Kinuyo Tanaka - star of most of Kenji Mizoguchi's best films and a pioneering female director in her own right - so it's worth seeing on that basis alone!
The treatment isn't particularly 'cinematic' but the story the film relates - in flashback - is an important one and well told from the point of view of an old lady (Tanaka) who lives in poverty…
-
It focused on the same type story as Shohei Imamura’s Zegen which is the harsh life of Japanese prostitute in Malay Archipelago during the WWII, I prefer Kei Kumai‘s approach with this story, taking the narrative strategy of intersecting the past and the present, and put it in the background of history relates to generations, expressing the anti-war statement in a straightforward and traditional way, Zegen is, in comparison, a bit more narrow taste, Shohei got too hang up on the sarcastic part and showing his continuous aim of depicting the ‘maggot side‘ of human being, I just think this kind of historical humanitarian tragedy should be conventional to make people empathic, to be moved.
-
The trauma of being a prostitute is real but may have been one of most beautiful film prints I’ve seen. (A list of around 5)
I walked up Amsterdam Ave after and passed people walking lining into a Nick Cave concert. I guess they are less into the oscars than me or maybe it’s just that Nick Cave is more exciting. Home for last two hours.
35mm/Lincoln Center
-
1974
サンダカン八番娼館 望郷 es la historia de una mujer de edad avanzada que, entrevistada por una joven periodista, cuenta como fue forzada a prostituirse durante su juventud. El film indaga en el agujero del trauma a través de grandes diálogos y bellísimas imágenes, sin histrionismos, para confrontar presente y pasado, las nuevas generaciones con las incómodas cicatrices abiertas. Los flashbacks no son tan buenos como el presente, pero contienen secuencias muy potentes. Película de corte muy clásico, se agradece después de tanta mandanga vanguardista. Además, es uno de los últimos papeles de la grandísima Kinuyo Tanaka.Se puede ver subtitulada aquí.
-
When I first heard about the subject of Kei Kumai's Sandakan No. 8 (1974), karayuki-san, the name given for women trafficked to SE Asia in the late 19th and 20th century, I was surprised that such a film could be made so close to the end of WWII. I was under the false impression that, like Shohei Imamura's documentary Karayuki-san, it would be about the life of a WWII comfort woman. However, that was not the case, the story of Osaki (Kinuyo Tanaka), who was a poor girl from Amasuka in Kyushu sold into prostitution because of poverty in the Taisho period (1912-1926), thus, removing the distasteful exploration of "official" government complicity in the recruitment and forced labor of "comfort…
-
A reporter, trying to uncover the story of Japanese prostitutes shipped overseas during World War I, coincidentally bumps into one of the former prostitutes and strikes up a friendship with her. The story unfolds as the elderly woman recounts her life. Some of the story is very compelling, but while the movie presumably exists to provide insight the subject, it inches very close to glossing it over. The prostitutes are forced into this life, but there's only one scene that drives that point home. The rest is either played as a drama against a larger political or emotional backdrop, which dilutes the impact, or, in at least one instance, for laughs, which hurts the overall tone. There's also some missed opportunities to delve into the elderly woman's psychology that could have made this much more interesting. However, it's very efficient filmmaking, and it certainly doesn't make for a boring few hours.
-
Kei Kumai directs a two hour drama starring Komaki Kurihara and Kinuyo Tanaka, about a journalist interviewing woman who was sold in slavery and prostitution in Malaysia, who also happens to be her mother in law.
Kei Kumai is a reliable chronicler of the darker parts of Japan's history and the same goes for this film.
I didn't think there was any harm starting this one off slowly, afterall the women need to get to know each other, speaking up is hard aswell and then there's the scene with creeper that's very relevant, because we'll be from there delving into how women were poorly treated in the past and how that continues.
We're given to the woman's entire story, not… -
This film and Imamura’s work both publicized the horror of karayuki-san during the war. What some may characterize as a light melodrama is rather ingenious. Through the genre trappings of a shomingeki drama, complete with studio sets and matte backgrounds, audiences are sutured into the rape and torture of so many women as subjects of the state. There are certainly more potent, direct connections to this time and experiences of the karayuki-san, but within the space of this film’s production and initial distribution it is powerful. Best Tanaka Kinuyo performance yet as she drops a tinge of her youthful theatrical prostrations and lives in the role.
-
#SandakanNo8 🇯🇵 1974
كاتبة تجري مقابلة مع امرأة مسنة حول إجبارها على ممارسة الدعارة في بورنيو في بيت دعارة يسمى سانداكان رقم 8.
🚩الاهمال الذي يبني.
قرى يصنعها اهمال المسؤلين ، و يتجاهلون سوء سمعتها الى ان تصبح قرى لأشباع الرغبات لجميع طبقات المجتمع ، و بهذا الشكل تبني الدول مستنقعاتها التخديرية
🚩انسلاخ الفطرة.
يولدون في قرى نائية ينتشر فيها الفقر و الجهل ، مما يجعلك من الشيء الى الاسوء ، آفة الجهل كالمركبة التي تأخذ صاحبها من السوء الى الجحيم و المهلكات ، حتى تصبح النتائج المستقبلية كارثية و تستمر معنا حتى يعتادوا المشهد و تهيئ لشخصيتهم الظروف بأيكونو من البرائة الى ان يصبحوا حقراء انذال على ما ربتهم عليه الحياة التي مروا بها
هؤلاء يسمعون عن الكرامة و… -
看到一半發現以前歷史地理老師有放過這部給我們看，主要是為了讓我們知道慰安婦的心酸，但當時我們都不了解為何寫書的女生要哭，現在看終於瞭解兩人當時的心情，慰安婦的故事比戰時更重要，因為她身為女人的青春與痛苦都在那被辜負了，後來的一切只是不斷重蹈被男人/歷史玩弄的覆轍。
加上這不是只是那個角色的故事，而是一群時代下女人的遭遇，最後女性說書人不斷強調述說女性的故事，由田中娟代飾演的老婦說出希望是由你撰寫這段非常感人，仿若把這位女演員/女導演的精神傳承下來。
-
There is nothing in the film that viewers familiar with Japanese cinema aren't aware of already (regarding the prostitution) during various era's of the country. One new information in this film is about underage girls sent overseas for work (normally the setting is within Japan). What makes this film work is the selection of the actors- especially Kinuyo Tanaka. If I have to name the epitome of 'fallen woman' actor in Japanese cinema, it has to be none other than Kinuyo Tanaka. There is no denying that. To see her, relive this character as an old woman in this film, kind of creates a strong bond with the audience with good knowledge of Japanese movies. We can relate to her suffering easily. Komaki Kurihara, who stars as the 'reporter' and Yoko Takahashi, who plays the 'younger Osaki' were both beyond fantastic. The simplicity of the film combined with the calmness of the landscapes contribute to the movie's additional success.