Underground

Darkness and light, reflections and projections, gloomy outlines, a shadow taking the shape of a young woman. Kaori Oda’s Underground gently leads us down into the depths of the caves of Okinawa, superimposing past and present, memory and sensual-haptic experience. The film is a creative expansion of Gama (2023), named after a local term for the caves and tunnel systems. Once again full of experimental and visual mastery, in Underground Oda discovers and peels back the subterranean spaces as a place of transgenerational memory of the battle for Okinawa in April 1945. While “peace guide”" Mitsuo Matsunaga soberly recounts the fates of the civilians who sought refuge here from the bombardment by US troops, the “shadow”, embodied by the young woman, glides through the caves, touching rock faces and traces of the past. Silently, with groping fingers. Kaori Oda superimposes memory culture and historical wounds in magical layers of images. The incomprehensible reports of collective suicide are framed by a sensual soundscape. Underground depicts a life with shadows.