The Anabasis of May and Fusako Shigenobu, Masao Adachi and 27 Years Without Images

The Anabasis of May and Fusako Shigenobu, Masao Adachi, and 27 Years Without Images is a French documentary film directed by artist and filmmaker Eric Baudelaire. The movie was released in 2011 and features Japanese political activists Masao Adachi and Mei Shigenobu.

The apt title of the film encompasses its complex narrative, referencing an ancient book about an army's journey home–– here, it signifies the lengthy journey and trials endured by its protagonists. 'Anabasis' refers to a difficult return, mirroring the lives of Fusako Shigenobu, Masao Adachi, and Fusako's daughter, Mei Shigenobu through the tumultuous paths they tread.

This film, a blend of personal narrative, experimental aesthetics, and political history, takes the viewer through a profound exploration of individual destinies indelibly marked by complex global politics, ideologies, and personal choices.

The movie follows the life story of Fusako Shigenobu, leader of the revolutionary group known as the Japanese Red Army – a group known for a series of high-profile hijackings and bombings throughout the 1970s as they sought to overthrow the Japanese government and monarchy. The film documents her 30 years in hiding in Lebanon, where she raises her daughter Mei, offering snapshots of a childhood spent in the shadows of armed struggle and under the watch of international law enforcement agencies.

Alongside Mother Fusako's narrative, the movie also presents the life of noted screenwriter and filmmaker Masao Adachi who, after choosing to give up his successful film career, devotes himself to the causes championed by the Japanese Red Army. He joins Fusako in Lebanon and becomes a voice for the struggle through his prolific writing.

The film also focuses substantially on the person of Mei Shigenobu, Fusako's daughter. Mei, born in secret in Lebanon, grows up witnessing a tumultuous intersection of motherhood and militancy. As we follow her coming-of-age, her narrative of adaptation, acceptance, and survival adds poignant layers to the overarching narratives of masquerade, militancy, and displacement.

The film gets its other part of the title, '27 years without images', from Adachi's own life. After he joined the Japanese Red Army, Adachi stopped making films for almost 27 years. The documentary not only borrows its title from this episode but also guides us through Adachi's radical theory of landscape or 'Fukeiron.' This film theory proposes cinema as a means to expose and critique the politicized landscapes and sceneries surrounding us, rather than simply employing it for storytelling purposes.

The director, Baudelaire, uses this theory to frame his storytelling with unique and thought-provoking visuals. He skilfully deploys this concept to shoot different regions of Tokyo and Beirut, reflecting the dramatic juxtapositions within the characters’ lives. In so doing, he binds the personal trials with an underlying political landscape.

The narration is unique in the sense that it’s solely provided by the protagonists themselves: Masao Adachi and Mei Shigenobu. Their voiceovers seamlessly accompany visuals from urban landscapes to personal archives, which reconstruct the past rather than illustrating it, innovatively blurring lines between a biographical documentary and experimental cinema.

The Anabasis of May and Fusako Shigenobu, Masao Adachi, and 27 Years Without Images is not a traditional biopic that aims to offer hebdomadal images of the past. Instead, it is filled with numerous accounts of personal memories, lived experiences, and ideological battles, masterfully presented within a unique cinematic structure, offering an intimate window into a turbulent era of modern political history.

This movie demands the viewer's attention – suggesting, perhaps, that any attempts to understand individual lives in their fullness inherently require patience, curiosity, and a willingness to engage with complexity. Hence, it's a must-watch for those interested in historical documentaries, political narratives, and experimental cinema.