Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion

Female Prisoner #701 - Scorpion stars the beautiful and talented Japanese actress Meiko Kaji, best known for playing Lady Snowblood and singing "Flower of Carnage," the title song to Kill Bill. This movie has everything to be a fine example of the "women in prison" film genre: stabbings, shootings, rape, lesbian sex, torture (scaldings, beatings, burnings, women hung by ropes from their elbows) and lots and lots of female nudity. Good clean family entertainment. What more could you want?

Uttering as few words as possible, Nami Matsushima (played by the stunningly beautiful Meiko Kaji) dispenses with the pleasantries and builds a reasonably impressive body count by the end of "Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion," one of the premiere films in the women's prison genre of films.

Natsuyagi is a cop looking to move ahead in his life, and money, after all, is the root of all evil. He hatches a scheme to use his lovely girlfriend, Nami, to lure the local mafia bosses into a scheme. But when the gang feels something's amiss, they escort Nami into a back room and rape her. Breaking in, Natsuyagi realizes he finally has what he wants: ignoring his fallen girlfriend, he convinces the mob that he can make all of their problems go away if they pay him off. They agree, and Natsuyagi has Nami thrown into prison ... where she undergoes the obligatory beatings, teasing, and other forms of degradation so common to 'girls behind bars' films.

What makes "Scorpion" different is the fact that Director Shunya Ito - in his debut film - decided to ride the fine line between art and trash. He combines the best elements of the vindictive woman's feature along with artsy lighting in order to achieve the effect of a car crash: the viewer really hates to slow down and watch, but there really must be something to see here, right? The violence is gratuitous, if not psychedelic, at times, but it all manages to flesh out (pun intended) before Nami manages to finally break out of prison and go on her murderous rampage, taking out the mobsters one-by-one until her final showdown with the unsuspecting Natsuyagi.

Also, in Kaji's graceful hands, Nami isn't so much a victim as she is an antihero, not at all unlike Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns. The viewer is pulled into this world by means of a very beautiful woman who refuses to be a 'prisoner' to the genre. Instead, she's defiant and calculating at every turn, refusing to comply with the warden's demands of good behavior. She challenges every authority, instituting her own code of justice which applies to everyone: her fellow inmates, the prison guards, and even the police outside. Uncompromising in her dedication, she ignores the acts she endures for the sake of focusing on one sole objective: revenge.

... and that's an act she takes with complete seriousness.

NOTE: Apparently, there is an issue associated to subtitling, as has been referred by other reviewers. I had no problem whatsoever, but I would add that the film would not play with the correct aspect ratio of 2:35:1 in my American DVD player. I did have to watch the film in my Region Free player, and I did not experience any problems.

The Female Convict Scorpion movies are fantastic and Meiko Kaji is just incredible. I really hope someone release the other two Scorpion movies she made so that we can get the whole saga.

Note to folks who complained about subtitles: on some DVD players, you must ACTIVELY turn the sub titles ON using your DVD's internal function. There is no menu item to do this on the DVD. I have found this to be true with a few of the Media Blaster/Tokyo Shock dvd's. On my player I can do this just using my remote control and hitting the 'subtitles' button.

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