Red Angel 1966

Sakura Nishi Ayako Wakao is a Japanese nurse stationed in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. She begins in a ward for chronically ill men, where she is raped by a patient, Sakamoto Jōtarō Senba. After she reports the assault, Sakamoto is sent to the front lines, and Nishi is moved to a field hospital that is already overwhelmed, with too few doctors and too little medicine to treat the incoming wounded.

At the field hospital, Nishi works alongside Dr. Okabe Shinsuke Ashida, who refuses a blood transfusion for Sakamoto, arguing that he is beyond saving, though Nishi pleads. Okabe tries to save Sakamoto on the condition that Nishi will come to his room that night. Sakamoto dies, but Nishi goes to Okabe’s room; however, Okabe simply wants to talk and share his French wine with her, then asks her to inject morphine so he can sleep.

Later, Nishi forms a sexual relationship with a man who has lost his arms, out of pity, and after she ends it, the man concludes that he will likely never experience such a bond again and commits suicide.

Okabe, Nishi, and two other nurses are sent to a village on the front line. A comfort woman in the village is infected with cholera, and the disease spreads to the soldiers. Okabe tries to establish hygiene, but the soldiers behave like wild animals, attempting to rape the nurses. The soldiers fall ill, and the village cannot be defended. On the eve of an anticipated attack, Nishi helps Okabe through morphine withdrawal, which had left him impotent. The two lovers affirm their love as they have sex. The Chinese Army attacks the village. When Nishi wakes the next morning, she is the sole survivor. A group of Japanese soldiers appear and claim they have fought back, but Nishi tells them to stay away to avoid infection. She searches the battlefield until she finds Okabe’s corpse and embraces him.