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"We're all alone in life"
Plan 75 took a calculated approach to culling the herd so to speak. As Japan faced a shrinking younger population and growing older population, Plan 75 was implemented. Anyone 75 or older could chose to be euthanized and receive $1000 and funeral expenses. But is it really voluntary if the poor elderly are financially ostracized leaving them with few choices?
Michi is 78-years-old and working as a cleaning maid with other elderly women. She has no family and her apartment is scheduled to be demolished. When she loses her job, she is left with few options. No one will hire her, no one will rent an apartment to her without a substantial deposit, and the welfare office is “closed.” Michi meets with Plan 75 agent Hiromu and signs up. Hiromu’s estranged uncle also signs up causing him to look into the program more closely.
My first thought was that this felt like a re-working of Kinoshita’s The Ballad of Narayama (1958). In TBoN when a person reached 70 in an impoverished village a family member carried them up the mountain where they were left to die of starvation and exposure. The opening sequence of Plan 75 featured a mass killing of people in an assisted living facility reminiscent of a real-life mass murder in Japan in 2016. The film killing and other hate crimes against older folks spurred the creation of Plan 75.
The first thing that hits you is that all of these people were near the poverty line if not below it. They either had no family or their families had largely abandoned them. None of the people who agreed to be euthanized as good citizens were wealthy. Shocking, I know. It’s briefly implied that businesses were profiting off the human loss of life driving the application age downward. However, there was no real discussion of the glaring pitfalls of such a program and the de-humanization of the elderly. Who has the right to decide if a life is of value and when that life should end? Were the wealthy and powerful held to such a standard? Who will be called on next to make sacrifices? Homeless people or the poor? The handicapped, the sick, the infertile? The LGBTQ+ community? People who aren’t living up to society’s expectations? And when does it stop being encouraged and start being enforced? The lack of a deep dive into the potential for corruption was disappointing.
Plan 75 showed the sad truth that many elderly live alone and on limited funds. When they die, they often die alone. In this film, Hiromu discovered that his uncle had helped build Japan’s transportation infrastructure. Michi had worked her whole life---Basho Chieko gave a quietly inspired performance in this role. Now they were considered a drain on society. Instead of cherishing them, providing for them, and recognizing the value of their lives and contributions they had become disposable. When one group of people is dehumanized, it’s not long before another one will be. Only the poor and powerless were called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice. Characters came to realize that life is precious and death should be handled with dignity. Not everyone is ready to leave this mortal coil at 75, there might be one more glorious sunset to bathe in.
“In the shade of the old apple tree,
Tomorrow let’s meet once again
When the red setting sun sinks in the west.”
18 September 2025
Michi is 78-years-old and working as a cleaning maid with other elderly women. She has no family and her apartment is scheduled to be demolished. When she loses her job, she is left with few options. No one will hire her, no one will rent an apartment to her without a substantial deposit, and the welfare office is “closed.” Michi meets with Plan 75 agent Hiromu and signs up. Hiromu’s estranged uncle also signs up causing him to look into the program more closely.
My first thought was that this felt like a re-working of Kinoshita’s The Ballad of Narayama (1958). In TBoN when a person reached 70 in an impoverished village a family member carried them up the mountain where they were left to die of starvation and exposure. The opening sequence of Plan 75 featured a mass killing of people in an assisted living facility reminiscent of a real-life mass murder in Japan in 2016. The film killing and other hate crimes against older folks spurred the creation of Plan 75.
The first thing that hits you is that all of these people were near the poverty line if not below it. They either had no family or their families had largely abandoned them. None of the people who agreed to be euthanized as good citizens were wealthy. Shocking, I know. It’s briefly implied that businesses were profiting off the human loss of life driving the application age downward. However, there was no real discussion of the glaring pitfalls of such a program and the de-humanization of the elderly. Who has the right to decide if a life is of value and when that life should end? Were the wealthy and powerful held to such a standard? Who will be called on next to make sacrifices? Homeless people or the poor? The handicapped, the sick, the infertile? The LGBTQ+ community? People who aren’t living up to society’s expectations? And when does it stop being encouraged and start being enforced? The lack of a deep dive into the potential for corruption was disappointing.
Plan 75 showed the sad truth that many elderly live alone and on limited funds. When they die, they often die alone. In this film, Hiromu discovered that his uncle had helped build Japan’s transportation infrastructure. Michi had worked her whole life---Basho Chieko gave a quietly inspired performance in this role. Now they were considered a drain on society. Instead of cherishing them, providing for them, and recognizing the value of their lives and contributions they had become disposable. When one group of people is dehumanized, it’s not long before another one will be. Only the poor and powerless were called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice. Characters came to realize that life is precious and death should be handled with dignity. Not everyone is ready to leave this mortal coil at 75, there might be one more glorious sunset to bathe in.
“In the shade of the old apple tree,
Tomorrow let’s meet once again
When the red setting sun sinks in the west.”
18 September 2025
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