Weird Wednesdays: School of The Holy Beast

This screening was part of the Alamo Drafthouse’s Weird Wednesday series. For upcoming shows, click here.

In School of The Holy Beast, director Norifumi Suzuki and the Toei film studio bring a nunsploitation that challenges the audience member through the shocking nature of its story juxtaposed with its beautiful imagery. Telling the story of Maya, a young woman who joins an abbey of nuns in search of the truth behind her mother’s death, the film tackles the uncomfortable subject of the holier-than-thou nature of religious institutions, and how power can lead to cultures of abuse and greed in faith-based communities. Like other exports from the Japanese “pink film” (pinku eiga) scene in Japan, Holy Beast illustrates this exploitation with vivid scenes of exploitation and sex, illustrating the different dynamics at play. The punishment for impure actions, the desire for touch in the sterile environment of the convent, and the acts of sexual abuse by the priest are all played, not for pure shock and awe, but in conjunction in order to make a statement on modern faith institutions and the damage they can cause to their believers.

Holy Beast, which at times plays certain moments with a tongue-in-cheek lightheartedness (like a goofy illustration of off-screen cunnilingus with one of the nuns licking her lover’s fingers), handles its subject matter in visually beautiful and engaging ways. The thoughtful staging of its scenes, which range from very violent to suggestive and sensual, is front-and-center in the viewing experience of the audience member. Moments that could be played more viscerally or explicit tend to be more fantastical and enjoyable to watch. One of its most famous scenes, the rose thorn torture of Maya, features gorgeous colors, fascinating close-ups and shots that seem to avoid overt sexualization or fetishization of the violence at hand. 

During my viewing of this film at Weird Wednesday at Alamo Drafthouse, my first for both this film and the Japanese “pinku film” scene, I worried and wondered at what exactly will be my experience watching this. The film has a relatively slow start, meticulously setting up many elements of intrigue that will pay off later, and I worried that the exploitative elements would get more gruesome and horrifying to the point of dismissing the film from my uneducated perspective. However, a truly surreal scene towards the back-half sold me on the artistry inherent in this nunsploitation.

The embodiment of profane allegory: Hisako’s urine test scene.

Hisako, after accidentally revealing herself to be pregnant, is tortured by The Abbess, the head of the abbey, and her fellow leadership. In an effort to shift focus to the perpetrator of her assault, Hisako reveals that Father Kakinuma, the priest of their order, is the father of her child. The Abbess takes this accusation as blasphemous and accuses Hisako of being “a witch”, a charge that requires proof, even in a corrupt institution like their abbey. Their solution: a hilariously outdated mode of witch-hunting that sticks out in contrast to the torture and the sex scenes. The Abbess declares that Hisako be strapped to a chair, forced to drink salt water, and have an image of Jesus Christ placed beneath her. If she is of pure heart, she will not urinate on the portrait, defiling the image of Christ. If she is a witch, she will.

What follows stands out dramatically from what we had seen prior to this. Lacking in the visceral nature of the previous torture scenes, the urine test is played with almost no dialogue and introduces spiritual images and moments to a film that has played the abbey as a religion-themed torture chamber rather than a convent. Every nun, except for Maya, joins The Abbess in a full circle around Hisako as the camera and lighting emphasize the judgemental eyes on the possible heretic. The minute hand on the clock rages across its face as the salt-water, the bleeding, and the fatigue weigh down on Hisako. She swings her head from side-to-side, holding in her sacrilegious act like a movie theater patron who just has to see the entire film. 

The film introduces otherworldly elements in this moment with Hisako. Hisako looks towards the ceiling as a beam of bright light illuminates her face. Her eyes open and her expression lifts, not as if in the presence of something fearful but as if in the presence of something familiar. The camera focuses on her mouth as a grimace of frustration releases to a sigh of relief. The minute hand on the clock stops. The camera cuts to the image of Christ below as a waterfall of urine pours down over it. A choir sings “Gloria! Gloria!” over this image as Hisako hangs her head in rest. The light fades and Hisako passes on.

 What is the film saying at this moment? Hisako’s sacrifice feels like the film’s most meaningful allegorical moment, even considering that a Christmas Day birth is a major plot point. Placing the image of Christ as a reflection of her, the film wants to draw parallels between this, and other moments of torture, to Christ’s final days. The light and the choir of voices suggest that Hisako is having a private communion with her god and the world that awaits her. The nuns witnessing this act remain in darkness, validating the otherworldly nature of the light showing on Hirako. The choir of angels singing at the moment of Hisako urinating on the image has an initial ironic twinge, but I believe such a callous joke works against what the film is focusing on. School of The Holy Beast is filled with acts of violence and torture against those acting on their human desires and needs. In the midst of Hisako’s final scene, she succumbs to what she needs: to just go to the bathroom. I believe this act is what the angels are singing for. They sing for Hisako to act against this heinous abbey’s behavior by defiling the image of their god, not because of a lack of belief in the holiness of the man, but because this image is being used by these nuns to commit sinful acts of abuse and it must be stopped. The light acts, not only as a sign from a god that feels very quiet throughout the film, but as an affirmation that she is saved, despite what The Abbess might accuse her of.

Hisako’s story in School of The Holy Beast is a tragic one. Her goodhearted attempt to help her family outside of the abbey leads her to a world of unending torture without respite. Her spirituality is questioned within the halls of what she calls her religious home and, in those last moments, her fellow nuns stare silently as she is called a witch and murdered for trying to do good in this world. When she believes she has been forsaken, she looks to the sky and sees a heavenly light and hears a choir of angels. While her nunnery might believe her life has ended with eternal damnation in her sight, it is not true for they can’t see the bigger picture. 

Hisako is not dead. She is being called home.

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