Gunki hatameku motoni (1972)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Kinji Fukasaku

Writers:

Kinji Fukasaku (writer)
Norio Osada (writer)

Genre:

Drama | History | Mystery | War

Plot Keywords:

Cannibalism | Japanese Army | Malnutrition | WWII | New Guinea

Cast

Tetsuro Tamba	...	Sergeant Katsuo Togashi
Sachiko Hidari	...	Sakie Togashi
Shinjiro Ebara
Isao Natsuyagi
Sanae Nakahara	...	Mrs. Ochi
Yumiko Fujita	...	Sakie's daughter
Noboru Mitani	...	Pvt. Tsuguo Terajima
Taketoshi Naitô
Kanemon Nakamura	...	Major Senda

Also Known As:

Under the Flag of the Rising Sun
Under the Fluttering Military Flag

Runtime:

USA:96 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16

Company:

Toho Film (Eiga) Co. Ltd.

Trivia:

Director Kinji Fukasaku used his own money to buy the film rights to the novel.

Quotes:

Sergeant Katsuo Togashi: There is no winning in dying.

Serious and sobering.

I'm a fan of Fukasaku's gritty doomed gangster movies, and have come to expect a harrowing exposition of human frailty and self destruction, usually at a very personal level. However, this movie plays out on a much grander scale as it sets about exploring the nature of nationalism, militarism, obedience, subjective reality, repressed memory, and guilt. I'm hard pressed to think of a western movie that digs so deeply into the despair of war widows, or examines their feelings in such minute detail. Technically it's almost a documentary, but personalised by the heroine's relentless quest for the truth.

Far from being a glorious affair full of grand heroism and precision munitions, war is a filthy business conducted at the sharp end by people who have little or nothing to gain by it. At the blunt end, the politicians and generals eat well and live a life of whimsical luxury while their forces starve and die brutally in foul conditions. Odd that so few filmmakers choose to explore the madness that sends millions to their death for overweening greed, imperial insanity, or even a bare faced lie. The Blue Max, Dr. Strangelove, and Oh What a Lovely War, amongst others, have examined the glib lunacy inherent in the equation, but Fukasaku's movie is all the more poignant for its protagonist's middle aged ordinariness.

If someone tells you that Battle Royale is Fukasaku's finest hour, just ask them if they've seen this movie. It's not "easy" to watch, but it's educational and moving. Try it with rice instead of popcorn.