A wrestling club where most fighters are deficient is the focus of a new documentary. The director, the New Zealander Heath Cozens, says he expects the film challenges the perceptions of right and wrong people when it comes to disability.
In a traditional public building in central Tokyo, a paraplegic man gives a header into another. The legs of the two are tied. Lying in the ring, they fight to the gong to mark the end of the assault.
Comes the next fight and Shintaro "Sambo" Yano, a 46-year-old man with cerebral palsy, enters the ring.
Your opponent is Yukinori "Antithesis" Kitajima, the old arch-enemy of Shintaro in fights. But Kitajima is not impaired, and it is significantly stronger than Shintaro.
"He is the Hitler of the disabled," cries the master of ceremonies to present Kitajima. And the fight begins.
ournalist and documentary director, Heath Cozens accompanies these struggles for more than five years. He felt uncomfortable in his first night of fighting, seeing disabled being beaten until they bled.
"I was so shocked that I almost want to laugh," he says. "Then I felt bad for thinking of laugh at disabled and embarrassed me. I could not tell if it was operating, entertainment or de facto equality."
Vision Change
At first I thought it was all an abuse, especially when he learned that non-disabled disabled regarded much weaker. He even thought to report the club, but his view changed after getting to know and filming fighters - and this was the origin of the documentary.
With the name of fighting group, Dog Legs follows five members of the club in his battles inside and outside the ring. To Cozens, it was a chance to show the daily lives of these people and the contrasts of his life experiences and struggle.
"These people suffer extreme prejudice in almost every aspect of their lives, but the club offers them a way out," says the director.
The epicenter of the film is Shintaro - the star of Dog Legs. He started the club for over 20 years in 1991 after a fight with another poor around a woman. At that time, they realized how they had enjoyed the competition and the physical aspect of the beating.
Along with Kitajima - his longtime friend and wrestling partner - the Dog Legs born with this goal: to be a place for meeting and leisure of disabled people, well away from the prejudices of everyday life.
The club has since grown and already has more than 40 fighters. Hundreds of people attend the fights - most of it is made up of disabled and colleagues. It is a real community, says Cozens, and the deficiency is at the heart of everything.
The group includes people with various disabilities, from multiple sclerosis to mental illness, and all have their chance between the ropes.
Yuki Nakajima suffering from severe depression and is currently undergoing treatment for cancer. He used to cry when entering the ring as the alter ego "Hopeless Goro"
Outside the ring, he is a friend of the other club members. All make fun of the shortcomings and difficulties of others.
"That's when I told you had cancer," said Nakajima. "Shintaro looked and said, 'pass the beer' It was great, this is the face of Dog Legs.."
Outside the ring, Nakajima works as a caregiver of another colleague struggle. Ooga "L'Amant" (The Lover) Ohga has cerebral palsy and spends most of the day in his small apartment as long as the disability and alcoholism affected his health serious way.
Technically, the wrestlers are divided into four "categories": those who fight lying, those who are sitting, those who fight standing and the open category. The latter has looser rules, including all tied or just headers fighters. But there are cases where these rules are completely ignored, says Cozens.
Delivery and recognition
Hence we Ohga, weighing only 39 kg, entering the ring against his wife, 80 kg. The legs of which are tied to try to make the most equal fight, but she still manages to throw in the air to fall at all about Ohga, or lift it until he collapsed in the ring.
It seems impossible that Ohga like this beating, but after a fight in which emerges victorious he grabs the microphone and says triumphantly: ". This is the only place where I can fight and win I will fight this ring while I live."
It is clear that the ring is the only place where Ohga feel equal to others. Cozens says this explains the delivery of fighters between the ropes.
"Whether you are paraplegic, have depression or cerebral palsy, everyone can get in that ring and fight. People look for them in the streets, but never expect them to be stars a night of fights."
He points out that many people may feel uncomfortable to see the movie. "Many people are embarrassed to look at the bodies of people with disabilities, but this is one of the most important things about the movie They are saying openly:. 'Look at me doing this and notice how my body is'. "
While life in the ring can be fun, out there the relationship between two members - Shintaro and Kitajima - is intense. They are very close and see themselves as brothers. But Kitajima urges Shintaro as anyone: says he is a "loser", gives tapas at his friend's face and presses the train when he is tired.
As the documentary progresses, the link between the two comes increasingly into focus. It is time the end of the battle 20 years between the two. Shintaro decides to retire the Dog Legs. He says he wants to be happy and find love - but first must face Kitajima again in a fight.
"I will not be a pathetic cripple again," says Shintaro. "I'll beat Kitajima."
Public reception
The film Dog Legs premiered in the US at Fantastic festival in Austin, but it is still novel in the UK.
Mat Fraser, a presenter and actor who has deficiencies related to thalidomide, says that the British public will struggle to understand the movie, and probably will be shocked.
Fraser, who lived with the club in Japan, said he hoped people envisage the work with an open mind. "You have to contextualize the story in Japan, where being a man means to be a warrior. These men are being warriors to enter the ring," he says.
The presenter believes the club struggle as something entirely positive, but the wrestling fan Tom Caster - who has cerebral palsy - states that a similar experience in England, for example, could be worrisome.
"It is clear that the club is 100% fun, but I think (a similar club in England) would be a throwback to the time of the bizarre shows than an equal sign," he says. "I would be very uncomfortable with people amused or playing before a fight with my other deficient."
The Cozens director says his main aim of the documentary is to challenge the "untimely reactions of people about what is right or wrong when it comes to disability." And if the club and the relationship between the fighters are "right" it is something which is, in large part, to the viewer to decide.
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