The prosecutor invites R to leave a free man, but when he opens the door, he is driven back by an intense burst of light from outside, symbolizing the fact that as a Korean he will never be accepted by Japanese society.

[4] Prior to 1968, the idea was conceptually reworked, with Ri Chin'u negated as the hero and replaced by R, a Korean subject more open to experimental treatment and analysis.

The resulting film is just as much concerned with the domestic repression of Koreans in Japan as with the death penalty, but remains cinematically important because of its theoretical and conceptual innovations.

[5] For all its dark absurdity, Death by Hanging addresses a number of themes – guilt and consciousness, and also race and discrimination (all within a greater context of state violence) – with great gravity.

In fact, their own violent actions (simulated rape, murder, recollection of war crimes) and ignorance accentuate the contradiction of violence and guilt – the state that has been sanctioned to kill is constituted by people just as guilty and worthy of punishment as R, the criminal.

[6] This interpretation resonates with Ōshima's long-standing concern with the plight of the Korean minority, and with the painful history of the Japanese occupation of Korea and war-time atrocities.

Rich in symbolism and visual allusions, Ōshima's mise en scène contains a number of subtle, masterful touches, such as the newspapered walls in the reconstruction of R's youth referencing the intense media scrutiny of Ri Chin'u.

Another theatrical element observed by Maureen Turim is the important role of dialogue: "much of the humor and irony is a matter of verbal repartee, presented in exquisite timing and visual framing.

[1] Vincent Canby of The New York Times found the film provocative and entertaining while it focused on capital punishment, but felt it reached a point of total confusion as it became more Godardian or Brechtian.