The islands of Okinawa in Southern Japan are most famous for their white beaches and crystal clear waters. “Green Jail” by Yin-Yu Huang, former participant of Naomi Kawase's Grand Voyage workshop and curator of the Cinema at Sea-Ishigaki Island Festival, shows a somewhat different side of the idyllic travel destination. Interviewing the only witness on the island of Iriomote, the (young director) finds out about the cruelties in the local Coal Mines before and during the war times (1886-1945).
Green Jail is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival
Grandma Hashima is the last survivor of Taiwanese forced workers. During the colonialization of Taiwan and Korea, the Japanese Government imprisoned thousands of people in the so-called “Green Jail”, where they were drugged and send into the harsh darkness of the mines. Hashima was adopted and her Taiwanese foster dad acted as the head of one of these mines. Today, she lives together with a young American, who helps her in her daily life.
It is an interesting mixture of characters. Luis, who came to Japan at an early stage, immigrated with his father from the US and is an accepted member of the village. Hashima, also an immigrant, but from a different era and with a different background, is haunted by the ghosts of the past. Luis explores the history of the island. He kind of leads us away from the pain of the past, giving a new perspective.
„Green Jail“ starts out as an interview situation focused on both of them and drifts in a feverish visualisation of the cruelty of the past including audio snippets from Hashima's foster dad, who talks about the scenes at the mine. Partly reenacted, partly symbolized by pure shots of nature captured by Nakatani Shungo, the interesting documentary drags on a bit. Repetitive narration leads to an exhausting pace. The French-Japanese co-production fails to go beyond the promising characters and does not offer much else.
Apart from the pacing problems, the story being told is worth to be uncovered, and “Green Jail” takes part in a historical reappraisal by capturing the voice of a first-hand attester.
