A soldier from the Chinese-Japanese war returns to his home village. Being completely disabled (no limbs, facial burns, impaired hearing and speech), his survival seems a miracle and he soon is being proclaimed to be a "god of war". His wife, suffering from the burden of care and his unfaded crudeness towards her, becomes to understand the absurdity of the war and war propaganda, but brings herself to enjoy the compliments from the villagers about how well she cares for the "god of war" and clings to singing propaganda songs to calm down herself.
Repeated power failures and the dimming of his room with only the flame of a petrol lamp left make the soldier recall the memories of him raping and slaughtering a Chinese woman in a burning house. Unable to articulate himself he is haunted and overwhelmed by his fault and eventually commits suicide.
The story tells us that war does not create heroes but only victims, in the first as well as the last front line -the wife at home. The movie doesn't need sentimentalism or any bloody reflections of the war - except for the repetitive showing of the soldier's crime. In fact, most of the acting is set in the house of the couple. The film conveys its message very subtle but thus even more mind shattering: I remember the scene where the body stump of the man is seated in typical Japanese tradition in the middle of the room, slightly lifted on a pillow, and circumvented by war insignia and a newspaper article about the "lord of the war". Sitting in this honorable position, you couldn't think of a better picture to show the absurdity and pitifulness of his existence as " god of war".
I strongly recommend this movie. The acting is great. It has deserved many people watching it.
Repeated power failures and the dimming of his room with only the flame of a petrol lamp left make the soldier recall the memories of him raping and slaughtering a Chinese woman in a burning house. Unable to articulate himself he is haunted and overwhelmed by his fault and eventually commits suicide.
The story tells us that war does not create heroes but only victims, in the first as well as the last front line -the wife at home. The movie doesn't need sentimentalism or any bloody reflections of the war - except for the repetitive showing of the soldier's crime. In fact, most of the acting is set in the house of the couple. The film conveys its message very subtle but thus even more mind shattering: I remember the scene where the body stump of the man is seated in typical Japanese tradition in the middle of the room, slightly lifted on a pillow, and circumvented by war insignia and a newspaper article about the "lord of the war". Sitting in this honorable position, you couldn't think of a better picture to show the absurdity and pitifulness of his existence as " god of war".
I strongly recommend this movie. The acting is great. It has deserved many people watching it.