Sandakan No. 8
Encyclopedia
is a 1974
Japanese
film directed by Kei Kumai
. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
.
women who were forced to work as prostitutes in Asian brothels during the early 20th century. She locates Osaki (Kinuyo Tanaka
), an elderly woman who lives with a number of cats in a shack in a remote village. Osaki agrees to tell her life story, and the film goes into flashback to the early 1920s. A young Osaki (Yoko Takashi), in an attempt to raise money for her poor family, takes a job as a maid in Sandakan
, British North Borneo
(today’s Sabah
, Malaysia) at what she believes to be a hotel. The establishment is actually a brothel called Sandakan 8. Osaki works for two years as a maid, but is forced by the brothel’s owners to become a prostitute. Osaki stays at Sandakan 8 until World War II
, and in that period she never experiences genuine affection outside of a brief romance with a poor farmer who abandons her when he makes his fortune. With the coming of war, Osaki is able to return to Japan, but because of her experiences at Sandakan 8 she is shunned and treated like a pariah.
at the 25th Berlin International Film Festival
, while Kumai received a Best Director nomination at that festival.
Sandakan No. 8 was nominated for the 1975 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
, but it lost to another production directed by a Japanese filmmaker: Akira Kurosawa
's Dersu Uzala
, which was the Soviet Union
entry for the Oscar competition.
The film was not released in the U.S. until late 1976. Roger Ebert
, in a review published in the Chicago Sun-Times
, noted the film’s "material is sensitively handled...the movie is not explicit." But Janet Maslin, in a review for The New York Times
, called it a "film about prostitution, narrated from what is supposed to be a feminist point of view. However feminism, in this case, only means interjecting a particularly noxious form of man-hating where the pornographic touches ordinarily might be."
To date, Sandakan No. 8 has not been commercially released in the U.S. on DVD.
1974 in film
The year 1974 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 7 - Blazing Saddles is released in the USA.*August 7 - Peter Wolf, lead singer of The J...
Japanese
Cinema of Japan
The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world – as of 2009 the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. Movies have been produced in Japan since 1897, when the first foreign cameramen arrived...
film directed by Kei Kumai
Kei Kumai
was a Japanese film director from Azumino, Nagano prefecture. After his studies in literature at Shinshu University, he worked as director's assistant....
. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
.
Plot
A young female journalist (Komaki Kurihara) is researching an article on the history of JapaneseJapanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
women who were forced to work as prostitutes in Asian brothels during the early 20th century. She locates Osaki (Kinuyo Tanaka
Kinuyo Tanaka
was a Japanese actress and director.Tanaka was born in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. She became a leading actress at an early age, appearing in Yasujirō Ozu's I Graduated, But... in 1929...
), an elderly woman who lives with a number of cats in a shack in a remote village. Osaki agrees to tell her life story, and the film goes into flashback to the early 1920s. A young Osaki (Yoko Takashi), in an attempt to raise money for her poor family, takes a job as a maid in Sandakan
Sandakan
Sandakan is the second-largest city in Sabah, East Malaysia, on the north-eastern coast of Borneo. It is located on the east coast of the island and it is the administrative centre of Sandakan Division and was the former capital of British North Borneo...
, British North Borneo
North Borneo
North Borneo was a British protectorate under the sovereign North Borneo Chartered Company from 1882 to 1946. After the war it became a crown colony of Great Britain from 1946 to 1963, known in this time as British North Borneo. It is located on the northeastern end of the island of Borneo. It is...
(today’s Sabah
Sabah
Sabah is one of 13 member states of Malaysia. It is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. It is the second largest state in the country after Sarawak, which it borders on its southwest. It also shares a border with the province of East Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south...
, Malaysia) at what she believes to be a hotel. The establishment is actually a brothel called Sandakan 8. Osaki works for two years as a maid, but is forced by the brothel’s owners to become a prostitute. Osaki stays at Sandakan 8 until World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and in that period she never experiences genuine affection outside of a brief romance with a poor farmer who abandons her when he makes his fortune. With the coming of war, Osaki is able to return to Japan, but because of her experiences at Sandakan 8 she is shunned and treated like a pariah.
Cast
- Komaki KuriharaKomaki Kuriharais a Japanese film actress. She has appeared in 30 films since 1967. She starred in the 1974 film Sandakan No. 8, which was entered into the 25th Berlin International Film Festival.-Selected filmography:* Tora-san's Grand Scheme...
- Keiko Mitani - Yôko TakahashiYoko Takahashiis a Japanese singer from Tokyo, perhaps best known for performing , the opening theme song of the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. She also performs the closing theme, an "acid bossa" version of "Fly Me to the Moon" and , the closing theme of Evangelion: Death and Rebirth...
- Osaki as a young woman - Kinuyo TanakaKinuyo Tanakawas a Japanese actress and director.Tanaka was born in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. She became a leading actress at an early age, appearing in Yasujirō Ozu's I Graduated, But... in 1929...
- Osaki Yamakawa, as an old woman - Takiko Mizunoe - Okiku
- Eiko Mizuhara - Ofumi
- Yoko Todo - Oyae
- Yukiko Yanagawa - Otake
- Yoko Nakagawa - Ohana
- Masayo Umezawa - Yukiyo
- Ken Tanaka - Hideo Takeuchi
- Eitarô Ozawa - Tarozo
- Tomoko Jinbo - Moto
- Hideo Sunazuka - Yajima
- Mitsuo Hamada - Yasukichi
- Kaneko Iwasaki - Sato
Production
Sandakan No. 8 was based on the 1972 book Sandakan Brothel No. 8: An Episode in the History of Lower-Class by Yamazaki Tomoko. The book focused on the "karayuki-san," the Japanese term for young women who were forced to work into prostitution in Pacific Rim countries and colonies during the early 20th century. The book created controversy in Japan, where the subject of the karayuki-san was not discussed in public or in scholarly examinations of Japanese history. Yamazaki’s book was a best-seller and won the Oya Soichi Prize for Non-Fiction Literature; she quickly followed up with a sequel, The Graves of Sandakan. Filmmaker Kei Kumai combined the two books into the screenplay for Sandakan No. 8.Awards and release
Sandakan No. 8 won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress for Kinuyo Tanaka in the 1975 Kinema Jumpo Awards. Tanaka won the Best Actress AwardSilver Bear for Best Actress
The Silver Bear for Best Actress is the Berlin International Film Festival's award for achievement in performance by an actress.-Awards:- External links :*...
at the 25th Berlin International Film Festival
25th Berlin International Film Festival
The 25th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from June 27 to July 8, 1975.-Jury:* Sylvia Syms * Ottokar Runze* Henry Chapier* Else Goelz* Albert Johnson* Rostislav Yurenev* Carlo Martins* S...
, while Kumai received a Best Director nomination at that festival.
Sandakan No. 8 was nominated for the 1975 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
, but it lost to another production directed by a Japanese filmmaker: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
's Dersu Uzala
Dersu Uzala
Dersu Uzala is the title of a 1923 book by the Russian explorer Vladimir Arsenyev.-Plot:Arsenyev's book tells of his travels in the Ussuri basin in the Russian Far East. Dersu was the name of a Nanai hunter who acted as a guide for Arsenyev's surveying crew from 1902 to 1907, and saved them from...
, which was the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
entry for the Oscar competition.
The film was not released in the U.S. until late 1976. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, in a review published in the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
, noted the film’s "material is sensitively handled...the movie is not explicit." But Janet Maslin, in a review for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, called it a "film about prostitution, narrated from what is supposed to be a feminist point of view. However feminism, in this case, only means interjecting a particularly noxious form of man-hating where the pornographic touches ordinarily might be."
To date, Sandakan No. 8 has not been commercially released in the U.S. on DVD.