Can anyone tell me why the condemned man was just called "R" throughout the whole film?
share'R' because the story was LOOSELY based upon a true story of a Korean rapist, condemned to hang, who (although he didn't survive execution) lived on through quite a bit of publicity in Japan.
...or so my Japanese cinema prof. explained in passing.
I think a shorter answer could be: because that was the name of the character. It didn't surprise me it wasn't James, Charles, or something like that. He was supposed to be from Korea (well, not him, but he's parents), and R is a Korean name. That's all. Completely normal.
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R is short for his family name Ri, his first name was Chin'u. So as to totally strip away his Korean identity, he is just called "R"; a final insult to his own nationality.
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