A female journalist researches the forced prostitution of Japanese women in the 1920s. She interviews Osaki, an old lady living with several cats in a shack at the edge of town. She tells the story in flashbacks, beginning with her trying to help her poor family by getting a job as a maid at a hotel. She works cleaning the rooms for two years and is then is coerced by the owner into becoming a hooker against her will.

Sandakan number eight turns out to be one the many brothels in Malaysia which used slave labor for years, including World War II, as a popular resting point for soldiers from around the world. The movie is based on a non fiction book of the same name which was controversial in Japan, as the women involved were shunned by society.

Osaki's tale is a sad and common one that needs to told. Sandakan 8 is compelling and well made.

This was the movie I saw on my first adult date. I was so encompassed by the story and cinematography that I soon forgot I was reading subtitles.

While the story may seem slow at first once the depiction of another society so far removed in time and place from our own gives the viewer a new look on the what shaped the lifestyle of the Japanese culture

You cannot help but be swept up in the crisis of the time depicted.

We tend to forget the world was not always as it is today, especially for us jaded Americans.

Elwin

Despite the subject matter, this is one of the most physically beautiful films I've ever seen. A difficult story to watch at times and some of the symbolism was a little overdone, but a well crafted movie with great attention to camera angle, set dressing, and - above all - the cinematography. A really stunning work...