Japanese cannibal killer Issei Sagawa returns to the public eye as subject of documentary
- He managed to not only escape justice but also profit from the 1981 killing, which he committed while studying in Paris
- After returning to Japan and being released, Sagawa embraced his new-found celebrity status
In 1981, Issei Sagawa shot a Dutch woman dead in Paris and, over the following two days, ate parts of her body. He managed to not only escape justice but also profit from the killing.
He will soon be thrust into the headlines in his homeland once more by a film that retells his grisly story and seeks to explain his mental state.
Caniba is a joint French-US production that will be released in Japan on July 12 and has already been screened to what can only be described as mixed responses. The review at the exquisiteterror.com website described the film as “intimately shot” and a “confidential intoxicatingly claustrophobic portrait” of Sagawa. Asian Movie Pulse said it was “intense” and “a unique experience, a truly original movie”.
The reaction at a number of film festivals has been less enthusiastic: many people attending the screening at the Venice Film in 2017 walked out. The reaction was similar at the Toronto Film Festival the same year.
Soon it will be the turn of Japanese audiences to register their verdicts.
While studying literature at the Sorbonne in Paris, Sagawa convinced a Dutch student named Renee Hartvelt to join him at his flat for a meal. He shot her in the head, sexually abused her corpse and ate part of her body. He was caught trying to dispose of what was left of the corpse in the ponds of the Bois de Boulogne. Police found parts of Hartvelt on plates in Sagawa’s fridge.