Zegen

An acerbic historical satire follows Iheiji Muraoka, a patriotic pimp whose business exploiting prostitution is tied to Japan’s imperial expansion across Southeast Asia.

Based on the true story of Muraoka, Imamura’s film traces his path from exile through coercive conscription by the Japanese consulate and into a profitable trafficking enterprise. The ICA describes it as Imamura’s only fiction film set entirely outside Japan, and as an anticolonial critique of the imperial project.