Death by Hanging [Criterion Collection]

A Korean criminal is hung for the alleged rape and murder of two girls. The execution fails to kill the man, who has lost his memory in the process. He cannot be executed again until he regains his memory and realizes who he is and what he has done. In a darkly comedic scene, the police try to re-enact the main events in the man's life in an attempt to jar his memory and again make him eligible for execution. A priest hopes he can save the man's soul, but the authorities only wish to make the criminal remember enough so he can be put to death. The Korean man begins to realize he is symbolic of all Koreans in Japan who face daily racial prejudice and injustice from Japanese society.