Yakuza amass power amid a war-torn country in the first of several iconic crime dramas.
In Postwar Hiroshima, Shozo Hirono (Bunta Sugawara) is sent to prison for killing a yakuza who assaulted his friend. In prison, he meets Wakasugi (Tatsuo Umemiya), a member of the Doi crime family. They become sworn brothers and help each other get out of jail, with Hirono joining the rival Yamamori family upon his exit. With corruption abound, both the Doi and Yamamori family back different politicians, causing a rift between the families, that only grows over time.
With Yamamori (Nobuo Kaneko)’s power and greed growing, his subordinates – all Hirono’s friends – begin to split apart. Factions are formed, betrayals are inevitable, and people are killed. With its massive cast and sprawling crime family dynamics, the Battles Without Honour and Humanity series – and this film in particular – are a lot to take in.
Based on a series of articles that were in turn based on memoirs written by yakuza Kozo Mino, Battles Without Honour or Humanity is one of the most influential pieces of Japanese media, heralding in an era of yakuza fiction that eschewed any real chivalry in favour of morally grey heroes, backstabbings and brutal violence. Being the result of an adaptation of a collection of real-life stories written by a former gangster, Battles has the ring of verisimilitude that wasn’t present before.
At the same time, its nature means that some of the story often feels quite disjointed at times, more like a serialised television show than a single, coherent plot. But that’s a saga for you: a sprawling story needs a lot of characters, areas, factions and themes in order to tell its ongoing, epic narrative.
That said, all of this means that Battles has approximately eight hundred characters, each of them with their own name card and future position held. On repeat viewings, everything feels a lot more cohesive, but going through the first time and trying to keep Sakai and Shinkai distinct, and who is on whose side, is a bit much at times.
In a lot of ways Battles suffers from its own popularity. It’s the tentpole modern action yakuza story, and its influences can be felt from Takeshi Kitano to the Like a Dragon video games. Hell, even Fukusaku would crib his own style with the release of Battle Royale, which took a lot of the structure and the countless names on screen from this.
As such, it doesn’t have quite the impact it would have if I’d seen it when it was first released. It has blazed a path so frequently trodden that the path itself is well worn and familiar. Still, all of this speaks to just how important it was. Its success led to four more films by Fukusaku and an entire franchise that currently spans eleven films. Being able to tell a historically important story while also appealing to modern day tastes – perhaps even speaking on a deeper level – has allowed Yakuza storytelling to thrive as much as it has. Not to mention it also has just the coolest saxophone riff.
Verdict: As important as it is entertaining, Battles Without Honour and Humanity is not only an epic, but the start of a grander narrative I can’t wait to dive into.
Battles without Honour and Humanity (1973)
Also known as: Battles without Honor [sic] and Humanity, The Yakuza Papers
Director: Kinji Fukusaku
Writers: Koji Shundo, Koichi Iiboshi, Kozo Mino, Kazuo Kasashira
CAST
Bunta Sugawara – Shozo Hirono
Hiroki Matsukata – Tetsuya Sakai
Nobuo Kaneko – Patriarch Yoshio Yamamori
Tatsuo Umemiya – Hiroshi Wakasugi
Kunie Tanaka – Masakichi Makihara
Goro Ibuki – Toru Ueda
Shinichiro Mikami – Uichi Shinkai
Tamio Kawaji – Seiichi Kanbara
Tsunehiko Watase – Toshio Arita
Harumi Sone – Shuji Yano
Keiji Takamiya – Shinichi Yamagata
Toshie Kimura – Rika Yamamori
Asao Uchida – Patriarch Kenichi Okubo
Hiroshi Nawa – Patriarch Kiyoshi Doi
Eiko Nakamura – Suzue Kunihiro
Mayumi Nagisa – Akiko Shinjo
Kinji Nakamura – Shigeto Nakahara
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