The 1960s have been a decisive period for the arts in many cultures. While some were looking for different formal approaches to deal with the issues of the times, others were looking back in order to re-assess and evaluate their countries history, which, to this point, had not been done before. Director Yasuzo Masumura belongs to the latter category, especially when considering his output in 1966 alone with an impressive crime drama such as “Irezumi” dealing with misogyny and toxic power structures as well as “Red Angel”, a powerful narrative about war and what it takes from people. In between, you find “Nakano Spy School” (also known as “The School of Spies”), a feature about how the Imperial Japanese Army Nakano School was founded, but also about the indoctrination and emotional manipulation of people to make them follow ideological goals.
Nakano Spy School is screening at Camera Japan
Jiro (Raizo Ichikawa) is a soldier in the Japanese Imperial Army and cannot wait to marry his young fiance Yukiko (Mayumi Ogawa). However, the impending conflict with China is only the first taste of the war which will inevitably come and the reason why the two lovers want to wait until Jiro has fulfilled his duty and has returned home safely. When his superior, Lieutenant Kusanagi (Daisuke Kato), asks him to be part of a secret mission, he thinks he will be sent to the front. But when he finds himself in a somewhat rundown facility on the outskirts of town, Kusanagi tells him and the other 17 men they are about to become spies and this place will be their training ground for the years to come.
As becoming a spy means to end all relationships and contacts with other family members, Jiro essentially disappears. He and his comrades concentrate on their versatile training which includes lessons in lockpicking, safecracking, chemistry and also the art of seduction. Meanwhile, Yukiko is worried about her fiance, but her inquiries only raise more questions than provide any answers. However, when Kusanagi’s superiors start complaining about the lack of results his spies contribute to the war effort, he promises to bring them a code book from the British army, which in the end becomes Jiro’s first real mission.
While it takes some time getting into, Masumura’s feature really becomes interesting in the second half, as soon as the power mechanisms within the spy school begin to shift. Even though we will stay away from spoilers here, it is safe to say that Kusanagi’s dream of having a facility such as this combined with his passionate patriotism creates a dangerous, almost toxic environment he soon loses control over. Additionally, his tendency for hybris and some instances of misjudgment result in a power dynamic within the group, whose members take hold of their teacher’s dream, thus making “Nakano Spy School” a somewhat acidic look at a mentality that would even survive the outcome of World War II. The willingness to sacrifice your ambitions for the greater good, or in this case, the survival of an ideology, leads to some kind of tunnel vision where every event, even tragedies, are (ab)used to serve ideological purposes. Although some parts of the feature play like a romance or even a caper, these underlying themes make “Nakano Spy School” an intriguing viewing experience and create a tension within the group of men set to become spies and blind servants for their country’s war efforts.
This development is mirrored in the performances by Raizo Ichikawa and Daisuke Kato. Both of them are deeply involved within the structure of the Imperial Army, with the latter seemingly having given up any kind of individual personal trait in order to be the ultimate servant. Ichikawa plays a somewhat naive young man who falls prey to a master manipulator, and who transforms into a man whose personality is no longer there as he has to impersonate others to fool his targets. While the romantic angle is not necessarily the feature’s best aspect, it certainly highlights how personal tragedy can lead to a cycle of exploitation, as even Mayumi Ogawa’s Yukiko is turned into a kind of double agent to serve someone’s ideological aims. In the end, these characters feel like puppets within a complicated net of intrigues and deception, emphasizing how a system creates blind followers and abuses people if this serves its overarching goals.
“Nakano Spy School” is an interesting feature about the way individuals were manipulated and deceived within Japan’s war efforts. While it may not be Yasuzo Masumura’s strongest work, it certainly makes for an intriguing watch due to the performances and the execution of the themes mentioned before.
