Anyone remember Minbo No Onna? A satirical poke at the Yakuza made by Japanese filmmaker Juzo Itami, it was so offensive to the Yakuza - who are portrayed in it as rather brutish imbeciles - that Itami was violently attacked and almost killed, in 1992; there has long been speculation that his suicide, in 1997, was suspicious, too - that perhaps he was thrown from the building he supposedly jumped from. Whatever the case, the fact that the Yakuza would attack him at all suggests that his portrayal of them was, however offensive, not entirely inaccurate; they certainly took the bait, and in at the very least trying to kill him, ended up validating his film. Funny how that works!
Given such logic, one wonders if comedian and radio/TV personality Chris Morris is at all disappointed that no one has tried to blow him up for his film Four Lions (that's Wikipedia; official site here), which takes the piss out of a group of clueless British wannabe Jihadis? The film makes their aspirations, their incompetence, and their incessant bickering into a truly funny black comedy, which even the UK's controversial Moazzam Begg - a former Guantanamo Bay detainee and alleged Al Qaida sympathizer last mentioned on this blog in a review about the film You Don't Like the Truth, about Canadian Gitmo detainee Omar Khadr - admits to enjoying, at a special screening with two other British Muslims who had been investigated for terrorist connections ( "I was looking for faults that would offend Muslims," Begg says, quoted here, "but all three of us loved it.") It sure doesn't seem like a toothless movie; it seems like it should piss a few people off - though perhaps Muslim extremists are a wee bit smarter about what they'll react to than the Yakuza...? (That's a kind of scary thought, actually). Lots of interviews with Chris Morris on the film on Youtube, for example here; the film is out now on DVD, and is highly recommended for anyone who likes cinema that tackles serious issues with an evil grin...
In which the Yakuza would attack him at all suggests that his portrayal of them was, however offensive, not entirely inaccurate, they certainly took the bait, and in at the very least trying to kill him, ended up validating his film. A satirical poke at the Yakuza made by Japanese filmmaker Juzo Itami, it was so offensive to the Yakuza .Thanks a lot for posting.
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