[troggi]

In 1969 I don't think I understood what it meant to "be foreign." The nearest thing to it for me was when I moved from one area of Sheffield or Rotherham to another when I would be "the outsider" for what seemed like an age until I was accepted by my peers. In 1969 I was in my fourth primary school in as many years and was getting ready to move again. In 1969 I thought that I knew what it was like to be "the outsider!"

I had heard of Japan but didn't grasp the idea of "foreign." I watched a Japanese film tonight, "Portrait of Hell" made in 1969, which deals on one level with the alienation within the ruling system of Koreans in Japan, and on another level with megalomania and corruption in power. The film revolves around an artist, Yoshihide, and his patron, the daimyo Hosokawa. The artist and his apprentices are Korean and not allowed to return to Korea and the Lord is unaware that his people are suffering under his oppressive rule. Because of this oppression Yoshihide can only paint the truth that he sees which is ugly and evil.

It's a slow burner of a film but it holds a candle up to the differences in Western and Eastern film making and the approaches to the horror genre that continue today. For recent examples you only have to look at how different "Ringu" was on it's release to anything served up by Hollywood!

I enjoyed my 96 minutes of alienation and give "Portrait of Hell" 15/10 for helping me realise that maybe I'm not as alienated as I thought I was and it's a cracking ghost story too!