Death by Hanging

Sentenced to death in Japan, a Korean man survives his execution, triggering a crisis that lays bare the absurdities of the justice system. When the man loses his memory, the authorities are unable to carry out the sentence and resort to staging a series of situations designed to restore his criminal identity and justify his execution. In Death by Hanging, Nagisa Ôshima crafts a political farce that blends grotesque comedy and satire to challenge capital punishment and racist nationalism, exposing the ideological and moral contradictions at the heart of Japanese society.