This film, considered to be the completion of Yoshida’s style, focuses on Kita Ikki, the prewar ideological leader of Japanese rightist terrorism and military revolts. The key factor is Kita’s relation to the emperor.
This last part of Yoshida's triptych of ‘enactments of contemporary history’ focuses on Kita Ikki, the ideological leader of Japanese rightist terrorism and military revolts during the 1920s and 1930s. Combining socialism, militarism and Buddhist mysticism, Kita was a true enigma. Yoshida offers a filmic query into the personality and motivations of this complex historical figure, who is impersonated by famous actor Mikuni Rentaro. The key factor is Kita’s relation to the emperor, that supreme symbol of the Japanese state and identity, through whom he tried to bring about revolution but in whose name he ultimately was put to death.
Coup d’etat was Yoshida’s first non-widescreen film and he skilfully exploited the smaller format by means of impressive modernist camera work which underscores the claustrophobia of Kita’s paranoia and delusion. He considered the film to be the completion of his work, both in content and style, and took a thirteen-year break in making feature films, during which he challenged the format of documentary.