Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade Brothers Grimm would be very disappointed Studio: Production IG Format: Movie Released: 6/1/2000 Written by: Face Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade is a strangely equivocal animated film, suffering from a bad case of allegory-bristling incoherence, making it unduly mystifying, and pointless to discern. I find it hard to believe that the creators of the superb cinematic feature, Ghost in the Shell, were responsible for this disoriented attempt at a psychological thriller a la Vertigo and The Third Man -- but sadly, truth is not something one can deny. The film presents an alternate history in which Japan lost "The Great War" (presumably WWII) to the Nazi regime. The setting is post-occupation retro-neo Tokyo no more than a decade after the war's end. The long-winded narration that introduces Jin-Roh has quite a bit of material to cover in order to fully describe the situation Japanese citizens are currently in, and it does so with beautifully crafted still-imaged backdrops depicting brutal acts of urban warfare. These horrible cases of urban violence are caused by a leading anti-government organization, dubbed "The Sect." For years, they have terrorized Japan, and destroyed any chance of restoring the country to its former glory. Anti-government sentiment is widespread throughout, and has even corrupted women and children. Terrorist leaders use high-school females, such as Nanami Agawa, to smuggle explosives to dangerous hot spots. However, as Nanami heads to her next destination, she is stopped by a platoon of the "Capital Police Special Unit." Trapped by police, and confronted by Constable Kazuki Fuse, Nanami realizes her inevitable death, and rashly detonates the explosive, killing herself and injuring Fuse. Although, he only suffers minor injuries (thanks to his body armor), he is left uncertain about the incident, and begins to blame himself for the girl's death. However, higher ranking officials condemn Fuse for not killing the girl. As punishment, they force Fuse to repeat basic training, and begin to further investigate into his life. Consumed with guilt and horrified by disturbing nightmares, Fuse starts to actively seek out the identity of the girl. During his search, he inadvertently meets her older sister, Kei, who bears an "uncanny" resemblance to her younger sibling. Bizarrely, Fuse's nightmares begin to revolve around Kei, wearing a "Little Red Riding Hood" (Rotkppchen version) outfit as she is brutally torn apart by wolves. What does this mean? Is Kei, perhaps, a "riding hood" in disguise? Would that then make Fuse the Wolf? At bareface, the Brothers Grimm fairy tale teaches us that it is foolish to listen to strangers, and "it is not an unheard thing if the Wolf is thereby provided with his dinner" (Charles Perrault). However, down at its core there are noticeable themes of sex, violence, and cannibalism. As a contemporary version of "The Little Red Riding Hood", Jin-Roh metaphorically incorporates all of these themes, but into a poorly constructed allegorical mishmash of unexplained character actions and fabricated double-crossings. Mamoru Oshii, the writer (also of Ghost in the Shell), expertly explores the characters' feelings. We are transported inside the mind of a girl running for her life, and taken aback by the contrast of uncaring indifference in the eyes of those chasing her. However, we are abruptly pushed aside by Fuse as his character becomes boggled down in an enshrouded political stratagem that feels all too familiar yet strangely out of place. Indistinguishable political agencies abruptly pop up to provide a contrived resolution to an already muddled film. And meanwhile, we learn a slew of startling artificial revelations that only succeed in adding to the sense of unorganized madness, initially created by the unaffective allegory. Nevertheless, on a technical standpoint, Jin-Roh is magnificent. It's carefully crafted, delicately painted, and expertly scored, yet dramatically confused, and emotionally irresolute. All together, creating a film that does not seem to know how to go about being itself. * * (Poor) Posted: February 28, 2004 Please Visit our Affiliates Anime UK News