The Eel - Unagi

Shoehi Imamura amazingly and thoughtfully directed the Eel. It's so beautifully edited and is a minimalist thriller of our time.
There are some really creative and beautiful shots with unique and mature directions. However, the film looses it's spark when it tries to be a little funny and descriptive towards the end.

**Spoiler Alert**

Looking at the film as it proceeds:

1) We cannot make an assumption that he didn't kill his wife at all. It is clear from his surrender and sentence.

2) Letters: A woman's voice was narrating the letters. Why? It can be assumed that he thought of someone who sent (if someone really sent) must be a woman. Also, she mentioned that this is the last time she will warn her. So, why he took actions that day and not before?

3) Sex: The sexual scenes were very passionate/professional. The way it is shown and the expressions of Yamashita suggests that he could never f**k like that (Or maybe he is sterile.)

4) Prison: His behavior (when he is out) depicts he learned to follow orders in prison. What he underwent (from officers and inmates) is never highlighted.

5) Eel: "He doesn't say what I don't wanna hear!" When Yamashita puts the Eel from the bag to a bucket, he actually talks to him and listens to his reply. This shows his belief in the imagination that the eel listens. Though the real question is why eel? And how finally becoming like an eel made him happy and he let go?
Aristole speculated that Eels were born of "earth worms", which he believed were formed of mud, growing from the "guts of wet soil" rather than through sexual reproduction. Does that eel gives him hope maybe cause he is sterile?

P.S. At last he considers the child as his own and is shown happy. This is the only reason i assumed him to be sterile (or not able to make babies).

Conclusion: The reason for why he murdered his wife is only known to him. 8 years of time is long enough to forget the same. In reality also, things like these can never be completely clear and we assume what we are comfortable with.

When he comes back from fishing early, he finds the white sedan and looks at the street light, for a second, it turns red. This symbolizes the fact that he will see reality from 'rose tinted glasses'. He will see what he wants to. And the letters could be a representation of how doubt grows or they could even be real letters.

So, he was living post-prison life accepting that he loved his wife and he couldn't forgive her. He had no place for another women in his life cause he wasn't willing to confront the truth. Until, it was for Keiko (love) he fought with his drunk-sutra reciting-inmate and confronted what he had to say. He excepted the fact that jealousy of being a lousy lover made him do it, not love. The delusional appearance of that man saying that he hallucinated the letters could be either true or false. But now it doesn't bother him.