Onna no sono

There’s hardly a more fitting context for the Ninjin Club’s  conceptual basis than the filming of a movie about a revolt by female students at a women’s university. The film begins with a protest march to the university administration, before using a flashback structure to narrate the events and interactions between characters that led to this act of open resistance against the repressive, authoritarian leadership and its strict doctrines. Among the protagonists are the young Yoshie (Hideko Takamine), who is trying to escape the confines of small-town life and an arranged marriage, as well as Akiko, a liberal-minded young woman from a wealthy family (Yoshiko Kuga, playing a role surprisingly close to her own biography), and Fumie (Kazuko Yamamoto), who is committed to the cause out of deep political conviction. Through lengthy dialogues, the female students explore social, political, familial and emotional conflicts that resonate far beyond the walls of the university. (mg)