Captive's Island (処刑の島)

HYOGENSHA presents a NISSEI GEKIJO production

What are you thinking about?

Nothing.

Liar! Come on, what?

About you.

Really?

Are you really thinking about me?

When can we really...

Wait.

I've got something to do first.

What?

It doesn't matter. It just concerns me.

What? What is it? What are you thinking about?

Punishment Island

Screenplay by SHINTARO ISHIHARA

Original Story by TAIJUN TAKEDA

Photography by TATSUO SUZUKI

Music by TORU TAKEMITSU

Film Editor MASAHIRO SHINODA

Starring

AKIRA NITTA

KEI SATO

KINZO SHIN

TAIJI TONOYAMA

HOSEI KOMATSU

NAKAJIRO TOMITA

TOSHIE KIMURA

YOSHIMI HIRAMATSU

SHIMA IWASHITA

RENTARO MIKUNI

Directed by MASAHIRO SHINODA

You here on business?

For the new weather station?

Seafood?

No. I'm looking.

Looking for someone?

Hey!

Got somewhere to stay?

No.

My sister and her husband run an inn. How about there?

It's convenient. Right in town.

It's good to see a new face.

A typhoon wrecked the pier, and who knows when they'll fix it.

We're back to boats again.

This island never changes.

No. It's changed a lot.

So you've been here before?

Yeah. A long time ago.

I run boats for a living. What do you do?

I sell sewing machines.

Yeah?

You've come a long way.

You said you were looking for someone...

Yes. I am.

A friend?

His name's Otake.

What does he do?

I don't know.

Is he from around here?

I came from Niijima Island after the war... 15 or 16 years ago.

He was here before that.

So you're looking for him?

Yeah. For him.

And one other man.

Another one?

What's this?

Oh, Mr Nomoto...

What's going on?

Him and his friends...

...jumped a guard and escaped from the reform school.

How many of them?

There's three more. He's the only one we got.

Why would you do that?

You can't get off this island in winter.

There's nowhere to hide on this island, either.

They'll come out when they get hungry...

...but we can't just wait for the police, so everyone's helping out.

And you're a Public Safety Officer.

You help, too. This concerns all of us.

I wonder where they're hiding...

I'm too busy to be out hunting right now!

Is that man's name Matsui?

Yes. Do you know him?

From years ago?

Yeah. Years ago.

Go on, eat it! It's good!

No!

You're not scared, are you? Go on!

You little bastard!

Are you going to try selling over on Kojima, too?

I suppose if they're manual and don't need electricity...

But who'd sew pretty clothes and wear them on that island?

Has it changed there, too?

No. A little bit of wind, and it's still completely cut off.

They used to send boys over there.

They did?

The ones who were too much for the reform school here to handle.

They won't send those runaways over there, will they?

I doubt it.

There's a grade school there, but that's all I know.

Hello!

I brought you a guest. You've got room, don't you?

Thank you.

We've got a room, but the floor mats are being changed. Could he wait?

Welcome.

How about a bath first?

Well! Mr Kuroki!

What brings you here?

Something came up, and now with this storm I can't get back.

Staying the night?

Yeah, I thought I'd drink with the landlord.

Join us.

You're with someone?

He's a guest I brought.

I was at Niijima. I hear some kids have run away?

Yeah. Everyone's all worked up. They've got guns and everything!

They're nothing but trouble! They should send the lot to Kojima.

Don't make jokes! We don't want kids like that on Kojima!

But didn't they used to send boys over there?

Did they?

That's what he says.

He says he's been there.

I'll get the bath ready. You can sit here.

Mr Kuroki's principal of the Kojima school.

He's from Tokyo... I think...

He sells sewing machines.

I'm Nishihara.

Kuroki. Glad to meet you.

You used to live here?

For a little while.

I see.

As a matter of fact, I have the feeling I've seen you before.

Oh yeah?

There's so few people on Kojima we feel like that about everyone.

You're a teacher?

I run the combined primary and middle school.

Come and see us if you come to Kojima.

You said you're looking for someone, didn't you.

What was the name?

'Ota' something... 'Otake', was it?

There's an 'Otake' who lives on Kojima.

I'd have to see him. He used to live on this island.

He's lived on Kojima for years and years.

I don't know him.

You might not.

He hardly ever comes here.

He avoids people. A real eccentric.

He is?

Yeah.

A madman, but a genius, maybe.

A genius?

Well, yeah, in some ways.

He's a man of foresight, like a prophet.

But he's headstrong.

He hates interference. so he keeps away from everyone.

But he's got a head for business.

He succeeds where everyone else fails.

When camellia oil was cheap, he planted trees.

Two years later, he made money.

He made the first kayak around here.

When fishing was bad, he made money on lobsters with it.

He makes butter, grows tea...

He makes them his own way, but he won't tell anyone how.

Butter?

He's got the only cattle on Kojima.

Cows? On Kojima?

Yeah!

Cattle... I herded cattle there...

I wonder what he's like... he sounds too smart to be an islander.

Yeah... he came from Tokyo during the war.

Are you a friend of his?

Me? Why?

He's a gloomy man, who hardly even speaks when you meet him.

Does anyone work for him?

No, he's all alone.

His daughter comes over here to buy provisions.

She's the only thing in the world he cares for.

She's very pretty.

But only her. He won't even keep a cat.

I came over here with her.

She can't go back in this wind. I'm sure he'll be worried.

But as you were saying...

Or was it this gentleman?

During the war, Otake worked boys the reform school here couldn't handle.

He treated them more like cattle than farm labor.

Sure, they were bad kids, but they were still kids.

He's a brute, that Otake.

There was a notorious killer named Kinjiro exiled there in feudal times.

When the men were away, he killed all the women and burned the village.

But now they worship him as one of the island gods. That's Kojima for you.

Otake was exiled there, too?

He might have been.

What happened to the boys sent there?

I don't know. I wasn't there long that time.

You were teaching then?

I was still a probationary teacher.

Did any of the boys ever die there?

Die?

I remember there was a rumor...

...that a boy had been killed. or maybe 'spirited away'.