Art Plan 75 (movie): imagining state-run euthanasia in Japan

[thomas]

Not a day goes by without Japanese and overseas media expanding on the country's greying society. Now, a discomforting movie by filmmaker Hayakawa Chie posits a policy of voluntary euthanasia for the over-75s. Instead of being a burden, a bother, or a resource-draining nuisance, anyone aged 75 can place themselves in the calm, efficient hands of the state and painlessly slip away. Those with money and family can do so after a two-day premium package, after spa treatments and special meals. Those without are given enough cash to pay for basic funeral costs before lying down on a camp bed in a dark, silent room divided by curtains where they quietly acquiesce to being gassed to death.

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Shot in natural light, in the present day, in almost real-time and in an almost documentary style, Plan 75 slowly reels audiences in, focusing on the scheme's impact on a small group of people across society as the horror builds. It opens with a radio report that a gunman has opened fire in an old people's care home – the latest in an epidemic of violence targeted at the elderly. The reporter goes smoothly on to discuss the roll-out of the government's euthanasia scheme. "The whole world is watching its success," he says.

When 75 is time to die: the horrifically plausible film imagining state-run euthanasia in Japan

Japan’s ageing and lonely population is reaching crisis point. What’s the solution? The director of Plan 75, about a programme of voluntary suicide, explains why her film is ‘far from impossible’

www.theguardian.com

 

[Grandpa Frank]

I'd only have a year and a half left.

 

[johnnyG]

Naw, not euthanasia... But how about downsizing? You'd still need healthcare, but otherwise far fewer resources.

 

[salyavin]

Reminds me of Logan's Run.