The Whispering of the Gods-Gerumaniumu no yoru (2005)

Directed by: Tatsushi Omori | 107 minutes | drama | Actors: Hirofumi Arai, Reona Hirota, Megumi Sawara, Keita Kimura, Nao Omori, Genta Dairaku, Masashi Yamamoto, Akifumi Miura.

The Japanese countryside, cattle run in slow motion through a snowy landscape. A picturesque image. Suddenly the scene shifts. We see priest Kamiya (Renji Ishibashi) say a Latin prayer. The camera points the image downwards. The priest not only prays, the priest is simultaneously treated to a hand-job by Rou (Hirofumi Arai). The first five minutes of ‘The Whispering of the Gods’ set the tone for the rest of the film.

Rou is one of the priest’s pupils in the isolated monastery with a farm. Rou, who will keep a stoic expression on his face throughout the film, is one of the youngsters who has fled to the monastery to escape his past. In Rou’s case, it is a murder he committed. The youngsters are allowed to stay in the monastery as long as they subject themselves to the hierarchy and discipline that prevails there, and all the horrific things that result from it. In 1980, producer Genjiro Arato decided to bypass the old-fashioned distribution network by showing his film ‘Zigeunerweisen’ in a mobile itinerant theater. It worked. The film made money and received critical acclaim.

Twenty-five years later, Arato applies a similar strategy to Tatsushi Omori’s The Whispering of the Gods. The film was screened in a home-built theater close to Ueno Park in the heart of Tokyo. The film ran for months and the audience flocked to it. The theme of the film necessitated this strategy, with the aim of circumventing the Japanese censorship body Eirin. A film that tells about animal cruelty, sexual abuse and violence, embedded in a strict Christian society, would not have survived censorship.

‘The Whispering of the Gods’ paints a picture of a society in which damaged people live together in an environment where there is more abuse than healing. Everyone abuses those who are on a lower rung of the hierarchical ladder. Rou seems to be the only exception to this: he abuses everyone, regardless of rank or position. The film’s downside is the lack of clarity about the precise function of animal abuse, sexual abuse and violence. As a result, the central theme remains too vague. Is it an indictment of the faith and its institutions? A naked and gloomy portrait of the true nature of man? A moralistic example of how man should not live? Pure fiction? There are no clear indications.

‘The Whispering of the Gods’ is a somber film, both in subject matter and style. The many scenes of violence and sexual abuse raise questions, confuse and portray contemporary man and his motivations. Opposite these gruesome scenes are also scenes of great aesthetic beauty. The only non-violent sex scene in the film is beautiful. Almost like one moving bodies in a choreography, and therefore more intimate than intimate. Nihilism, stillness, beauty, religion, abuse and anger go hand in hand in this film. Contrast makes interesting enough and worth watching. It is a pity that the unclear message cloud that interest.