Victory of Women

Mizoguchi’s most politically outspoken film is clearly branded as a product of the US occupation by its insistent, ardent call for democratic reform and, most especially, for the empowerment of women. Mizoguchi’s only work with Ozu screenwriter Kogo Noda, Victory of Women features Kinuyo Tanaka as the embodiment of the possible new order, a lawyer fighting doggedly for a more just legal system and trying to rid Japan of its draconian penal system.