Onibaba exhibits a fairly pure example of something which I’ve discovered to be true about storytelling in general. Stories with two major characters are somewhat interesting, but stories with three characters are infinitely more complex, with more opportunities for conflict and drama. I suppose I realized this before, as I’ve written a few stories here and there with three central characters, but it wasn’t until I was tutored on my screenplay (which has three central characters) when I fully understood this essential truth. The old saying, two’s company, three’s a crowd, could be true -- but the crowd is usually more compelling than the company, at least when it comes to a decent story.

Onibaba takes place in 14th century Japan, as the country is in war. Two women, an older woman and her young daughter-in-law, live in a hut inside a field of tall weeds near a swamp, and need to survive somehow. In a lengthy, wordless opening sequence, we see how they do it. They do so by killing unsuspecting samurai, stealing their armor and belongings, before dumping their bodies in a deep hole in the middle of the field. They exchange the goods with a group of underground warriors for food and other necessities.

A solider returns home, and enters the two women’s hut. He was a friend who fought alongside the younger woman’s husband during the war, but he arrives home to tell them some bad news -- the man was killed. This man isn’t some softhearted guy, however -- he’s a lot more concerned about getting a bowl of rice, and beating around the bush with the details of his story before he even gets around to actually saying to the older woman that your son’s dead.

The guy settles back into his own grass hut nearby, but he’s feeling pretty bad. Not about anything tragic like the death of his comrade in war, or about anything horrific he may have witness. Nope, he’s simply frustrated because he wants to get laid. Specifically, he wants to get it on with the young widow -- his sexual frustration is made visible in a scene where he thrashes and rolls around through the weeds, his entire being full of tension.

Right away, he makes his move on her. He states his philosophy about the whole situation as recognizing the fact the widow is still young, and ought to take up with another man -- but of course he’s just as much concerned with his own needs as hers. Even so, it doesn’t take much for him to get her to see things his way, which makes the older woman angry.

The older woman’s anger stems from grief over her son’s death, and her belief that her son’s partner was somehow complicit in his death, whether by being cowardly or, perhaps, even making up the whole story to cover up the possibility he killed her son. She sees this guy as little more than a brute, which he is. But she’s also afraid; afraid that her daughter-in-law, younger, healthier and stronger, will decide to live with the guy, leaving her all alone. And in a fairly pathetic moment, she actually tries (with no success) to get the guy to sleep with her, instead -- in hopes the guy will be satisfied with screwing any woman. But he’ll have none of that. And so she fears, but only for herself -- she wants a partner in her killing and thieving, because she doesn’t think she’ll be able to do it herself.

She soon attempts to scare the young woman into ending the affair. The young woman doesn’t quite realize her mother-in-law knows what’s going on, and doesn’t quite understand why she is starting to talk about spiritual matters; mainly, the ugly things that will befall those who commit the most awful of sins, like the sins of lust. The young woman thinks it’s all nonsense, saying people have been doing stuff like this for thousands of years, so why would anyone be punished for it?

But then a strange event involving a strange man in a demonic mask gives the mother hope in completely terrifying the young woman into believing there is a consequence for her affair, for the cheating on her dead husband, and for the betrayal of her dead husband’s mother.......

I’ve heard this movie being described as a “horror” film -- which it is not, if you’re the possibly narrow-minded person like myself who thinks of actual supernatural stuff, like zombies, monsters, demons, etc., etc., when I think of horror. The guy in the demon mask is pretty mysterious, and the final shots of this film are pretty gruesome -- but the result is something akin to psychological drama, with a fatalistic payoff, rather than “horror”, at least it is to me.

Everything which happens in this movie is simply the less pretty of human nature. In this primitive society, locked away from civilization, left to their own devices, these three people have only basic needs -- food, survival, sex, and so on. All three of these people are, in a sense, desperate -- the older woman’s actions aren’t out of anything noble; she’s alternately taking revenge on her son’s death, and fearful of her own possible death if she doesn’t have anyone to help her survive -- the younger woman, now widowed but still young and full of energy, needs a man, and there’s only one man around, so she’ll take what she can, even though the affair is purely physical and sexual, no deeper than that -- and the man, probably not the most classy man to begin with, really has nothing much to lose, so he might as well go after his dead friend’s wife, huh?

The content is quite strong for a black-and-white movie from 1964. The Japanese must be more liberal than Hollywood, then as now. There’s all kinds of nudity in this film, including in a memorable (and fully-nude) sequence where the young woman is playfully chased by the man through the swamp and weeds. All three characters are wearing rather flimsy clothing, which is only natural given the fact they are as poor as dirt, have few possessions, and are in the middle of a swampy field in hot weather. There’s quite a few shots of the two women sleeping in their beds, both topless, and equally as many shots where they basically let it all hang out while they’re outside doing their work, and the movie doesn’t shy away from the fact the young woman is pretty nubile while the old woman is physically aging. I wouldn’t call Onibaba sexy, but it’s definitely frank and sensual, and earthy.

The film is well-designed, and has a great opening and closing. The opening sequence is wordless, and great - it’s one of those scenes where dialogue is totally unnecessary, and, indeed, isn’t used until almost 15 minutes into the film. And I won’t reveal the ending, although I can say you may squirm -- I did. The score is terrific, especially the title sequence, which is a very jazzy, film-noir type of piece. The film makes good use of the environment -- lots of swaying, flowing weeds hide the sordid and crazy goings-on inside.

Overall, Onibaba is a great film, dark, earthy, a little eerie, but mostly a grim tale of a trio with little but the basics of human nature to keep them going.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV