A Gesture Life

In a flashback, 23-year-old Hata serves as a medic for the Japanese army stationed in Burma. Hata doesn’t yearn for the pleasures of women in the same way as his comrade, the 18-year-old Corporal Endo, does. Endo keeps pornographic pictures of Western women in his radio book. Hata refuses to keep such pictures, as he would be shamed if such pictures made it to his adoptive parents in the event of his death. When Endo obtains photographs of men and women engaging in sexual intercourse, his face erupts into pimples, his appearance becomes disheveled, and he begins to stink awfully. In a strange shrine of sorts, Endo keeps pictures of his family alongside pornographic pictures, and at times, pretends to be a movie star. Because of Endo’s obsession with pornography and unusual behavior, Hata becomes concerned about his mental health.

One evening, Endo interrupts Hata as he reads a surgical text. With a worried, focused look in his eye, Endo asks Hata to forgive him for his inappropriate conduct. Timidly, he asks Hata about the “female volunteers” that are to arrive the next day. Hata warns him that it is none of his concern and to not provoke Captain Ono, the chief medical officer who is known for his volatile outbursts. He then advises Endo to get rid of his pornographic pictures because of his unhealthy reliance on them. He informs Endo that he can visit the female volunteers when they arrive, as the soldiers will be issued tickets to visit them. The next day, a group of prostitutes known as “comfort women” arrive, frightened and dressed like peasants. Captain Ono assigns Hata to handle their care—the girls are valuable to the well-being and morale of the camp, and they will need maintenance once visitations begin.

Later that evening, Endo finds Hata and informs him that he will not visit the female volunteers at all. Upon seeing the girls, his initial desperation to be with a woman suddenly disappears. Endo hands Hata his token as If it were the last ash of his ancestor and is genuinely grateful. As they walk past the commander’s hut, they see Colonel Ishii standing naked on the open porch, ushering out a girl hiding beneath the hut. In an eerily gentle tone, Colonel Ishii tells her that there is no reason to hide. The girl replies that she wants to be with her sister, and she promised her mother they would always stay together. The colonel drags the girl inside, shouting lividly as she calls out her sister’s name—Kkutaeh. A sentry hears the outburst and fires in the direction of Hata and Endo as Endo sprints into the jungle. The colonel shoots the sentry and nonchalantly walks over to Hata, asking for aid in relation to fertility and virginity. The sentry is carried away without question. The next day, Hata records that an unknown sniper shot the sentry. 

After the shooting, Hata doesn’t search for Endo. No one knows that Endo instigated the shooting, and he hasn’t been seen since. Hata doesn’t wish to care for him anymore—his tolerance of him has reached its end. A joke circulates the camp that Hata intends to become a professional mental therapist after the war, and that Endo is his practice patient. Captain Ono even sarcastically asks Hata to observe a soldier from the front lines that lost his ability to see, hear, and speak. Hata takes the task seriously before realizing the joke and is embarrassed. As he is in charge of the well-being of the “comfort women,” he oversees the construction of the comfort house. Hata works to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and examines the fitness of the girls for their duties.

The female volunteers range from age 16 to 21, and a cheaply dressed Japanese woman named Mrs. Matsui cares for them. The younger sister of the girl who had hidden beneath the commander’s hut, Kkutaeh, is the only one who gazes directly at Hata as someone might in public. She is kept with the doctor while the rest of the women entertain the commander. The doctor is interested in her beyond her physical beauty and is fixated on her with the fierce intensity of a child desiring a special toy.

One by one, Mrs. Matsui ushers the girls onto the exam table. Hata finds their privates terribly swollen and bruised, smeared with red discharge, and smelling of sweat, blood, and sexual relations. When the Captain arrives, he snaps at Hata for not adhering to code—he had neglected to tell the girls to put their clothes back on after their examinations. Mrs. Matsui leads the rest of the girls out as the doctor examines Kkutaeh himself.

The officers were to begin their visitations at the comfort house that night. Outside, Hata notices Endo crouched near the jungle, closely watching the girls as they make their way to Mrs. Marsui’s tent. He then unexpectedly rises and makes his way to the girls, grabbing Kkutaeh’s older sister and dragging her to the edge of the bush. She doesn’t fight him—she seems to lighten at his touch as if he is an old acquaintance and she is pleased to see him. Hata senses the irregularity of the event and makes his way to them. He finds the girl is dead—Endo had slashed her throat, yet there is almost no blood on him or the girl. Endo is kept under close watch that night. He confesses to the deed after Captain Ono briefly interrogates him. Charged not with murder but with treasonous action against the corps, Endo is executed the next morning under witness of the entire camp, including Mrs. Matsui, the girls, and the dead girl’s sister, Kkutaeh.