Proof of the Man: Comparative Racial Politics
One aspect of this movie that struck me almost immediately is the director's focus on race relations in both Japan and the United States; he accomplishes this in a very unique fashion. Sato is able to contrast the experiences of both Black and Japanese people in regards to their subjugation at the hands of "the man" – militarized, policing white people. He accomplishes this most effectively through his examination of both police departments in New York and in Tokyo.
Each department handles the crimes committed in the film in a very different manner. In Tokyo, there is a large meeting between all those detectives involved in the case regarding the murder of Johhny, whereas in New York, the one detective assigned to the case couldn't care less about it nor could his commanding officer. Even in Japan, the life of a Black person is taken more seriously than in the United States, where there are far more Black people.
However, Black people are not the only marginalized group in this movie. For the detective protagonist, his oppression came most directly when he was a child and experiencing abuse at the hands of American soldiers who occupied Japan during World War Two. The Japanese detective, and much of his village, experienced violent abuse by soldiers, one of whom was the aforementioned NYPD detective.
Sato attempts to fasten these two groups together through mutual trauma at the hands of whites, but his approach is somewhat dated - the Japanese in this movie abuse Black people as much as Whites do. This is shown in Kyoto's murder of her son and exploitation of predominantly Black models for monetary, as well as the Japanese detective's brutal assault on the bar full of Black men he was frustrated with. Inevitably, this movie shows how abuse only leads to further abuse, whether on a personal or social level.
Each department handles the crimes committed in the film in a very different manner. In Tokyo, there is a large meeting between all those detectives involved in the case regarding the murder of Johhny, whereas in New York, the one detective assigned to the case couldn't care less about it nor could his commanding officer. Even in Japan, the life of a Black person is taken more seriously than in the United States, where there are far more Black people.
However, Black people are not the only marginalized group in this movie. For the detective protagonist, his oppression came most directly when he was a child and experiencing abuse at the hands of American soldiers who occupied Japan during World War Two. The Japanese detective, and much of his village, experienced violent abuse by soldiers, one of whom was the aforementioned NYPD detective.
Sato attempts to fasten these two groups together through mutual trauma at the hands of whites, but his approach is somewhat dated - the Japanese in this movie abuse Black people as much as Whites do. This is shown in Kyoto's murder of her son and exploitation of predominantly Black models for monetary, as well as the Japanese detective's brutal assault on the bar full of Black men he was frustrated with. Inevitably, this movie shows how abuse only leads to further abuse, whether on a personal or social level.
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