I've always found middle-aged students in motion pictures more than a little humorous in and of themselves (see THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE), but FIGHTING ELEGY, with its rousing opening score and its socialpaths in (goose-)step with the times, manages to rumble right past that little incongruity like a locomotive through a long, dark tunnel. There's plenty of ear-gnawing action, here, as our hot-blooded hero channels his sexual frustration(s) into brawl after brawl in an attempt to become "a man's man." (And I'm not going to touch that one with a ten-foot pole...) After all, he is told, "One must be a man above all." Even if it means playing a piano without his hands... Some of the almost 3D-looking effects were ahead of their time; certainly I don't recall seeing shots like this in a movie that wasn't 3D. One can almost hear the announcer's voice, all aquiver with repressed passion, when the trailer for this one first ran: "See hot-blooded youth EXPLODE across the screen!" Whew. Think I need a shower.

Kiroku Nanbu seems to be a decent enough fellow. A Catholic, he attends church regularly with the family with whom he boards. He is respectful to his father, his elders, including older schoolmates, and adores Michiko a young girl who is the pinnacle of purity and innocence. However, Kiroku has another side as well. Beneath his kind ways, which are definitely genuine, lurks the heart and soul of a fighter. Constantly throughout the films eighty-six minutes Kiroku fights his way through upperclassmen and students at rival schools. Kiroku is the embodiment of "Koha" or the "hard school." Like Miyamoto Musashi, members of the hard school were supposed to hone their fighting skills to perfection and be the quintessence of masculinity, however, in order to reach this peak of manliness, the men were supposed to be indifferent to women. Yet, Kiroku cannot get the image of his beloved Michiko out of his head.

Not wanting to sully the perfect image of Michiko that resides in his mind, Kiroku avoids taking "matters" into his own hands Therefore he gets into fights to use up his energy. However, Michiko also seems to like our young hero because of his manliness and desires to teach him such things as English and the piano. However, this of course causes Kiroku more anguish because he cannot get images such as Michiko's "white hands" out of his mind.

Taking place in Okayama in the year 1935, Suzuki sets the film during Japan's expansionist period. The hard school image along with the power of the Japanese spirit was promulgated by the heads of the Imperial Japanese Army, and later Mishima Yukio, and this mentality led to the needless deaths of thousands of Japanese soldiers who charged into battles, in later years, with the superior forces of the Soviet Union. As he criticized the American occupation of Japan in Gate of Flesh, Suzuki in Fighting Elegy makes a farce out of the hard school.

Fighting Elegy is an incredibly fun film by one of Japan's most individualistic directors. With its tongue-in-cheek look at Japan during the 1930s and, to a lesser extent, the Japanese military, Suzuki allows the audience to view young men so caught up in the ideals of manliness that they struggle to become full individuals. However, being that this is a Suzuki Seijun film, a director who states that there are no deeper meanings to his films than their entertainment value, my above statements might mean little more than ashes in water. Yet, it is definitely a fun ride!