松川事件

松川事件 (The Matsukawa Incident) is a 1961 Japanese film by Shohei Imamura. The film portrays an actual and controversial trial in the immediate post-World War II period. The Matsukawa Incident is a dramatization of the trial of 20 Japanese railway workers who were wrongfully accused of sabotage and then sentenced to death. Imamura's film criticizes the process of the trial and the coercive tactics used to extract confessions from the accused men. The true story of The Matsukawa Incident is suspenseful enough on its own, but Imamura's direction and the cast's performances make this a powerful and affecting film.