The short, Can’t Judge, directed by Yuri Sasamoto, is, at first glance a hallucinatory sci-fi dream with aliens, ray guns and space ships. It is, however, a scathing attack on the Japanese government’s response to the Covid pandemic, and a warning to both Japan and other nations about the risks of totalitarianism in the form of a satire.
But let’s take a step back.
We begin with a civil servant lazily processing the registration requests of various aliens who want to relocate to the state of Pandora, where the short is set. Pandora is in fact a future Japan. The first alien we see is ridiculous and lazy. He seems interested only a signing up for welfare as quickly as possible and living off the state. The second alien offers a Nazi-salute and is clearly ambitious to take over the country. The civil servant doesn’t seem to know what to make of these aliens. The first, dressed like a baby and sucking his thumb in order to accentuate his infantile dependence, wants money to live on. The civil servant explains that he’s only there for residential registration and that he can’t judge the alien’s welfare case. At this, the alien and the interpreter both keel over laughing. The reason the aliens find this so funny is unclear. Perhaps they find it amusing that a country will let them register for residence before it knows if the aliens can support themselves.
The second alien is more militaristic. He has no time for the civil servant’s slowness and eventually incapacitates him. His planet has surrounded Pandora with space weapons and now many aliens will come to Pandora to live. So Pandora is beset by two enemies: lazy, state-dependent people on the one hand, and imperialistic ones on the other. Either way, the threat of totalitarianism looms large here.
But what does this have to do with Japan and the Corona virus? Can’t Judge: Corona and the Japanese Government answers with a hilarious song. In the song, it becomes clear that the real problem here is the complaisance of the civil servant: If people simply go along without thinking for themselves or fighting back, the government will walk all over them and society will be ruined, the song seems to say. In the midst of the song, there is a reference to the book, The Road to Serfdom, written by economist Friedrich Hayek during the Second World War as a warning to western Europe about the dangers of creeping totalitarianism through state welfare and central planning. The current response to the corona virus, Sasamoto seems to say, is playing into this same trap. And no one seems to questioning the sweeping and often intrusive government measures that are being put in place to combat the pandemic. The film seems to be saying that our acquiescence will lead to an era of tyranny, surveillance and he end of freedom as we know it.
The name of the new country here is also significant. Pandora is a character from Greek mythology who opened a box, much as Eve ate the apple, which allowed all forms of evil to flood the world. The woman’s name, Pandora, which in Greek means something like, ‘all gifts’ is also important. Sasamoto seems to be saying here that the state seems to offer all sorts of gifts: housing and money to live on. But in reality, opening this box will be an unmitigated and unstoppable disaster.
Visually, this is a wild and unpredictable film. We have space ships, a civil servant dancing around in prison clothes, aliens goose-stepping over a dead body and warplanes blowing up the universe. The visuals and acting are not at the highest level, but somehow, the do-it-yourself attitude of the production only add to its power.
Couching this severe criticism in satire works well here. Although the satire is thinly veiled – or perhaps not veiled at all – this was a succinct way to get the point across while remaining entertaining. Sasamoto’s ability to make us laugh at what she sees as a serious threat is quite an accomplishment. In the end, the vision of the civil servant, staring blankly at his papers and unable to distinguish or judge between those who would suck his country dry or conquer it, or even to see these as threats, will be the most enduring image from the film.
By: Matt Smith
2021. UniversalCinema Mag.