In the last months of the Pacific War Private Tamura of the Japanese Imperial Army is told to report to hospital . If the hospital refuses him a bed he is to commit suicide . He arrives at hospital and told that walking wounded aren't considered casualties and will not be treated . As he plans his next move the hospital comes under bombardment
As soon as I saw the opening sequence of this movie I was instantly reminded of the classic Japanese trilogy THE HUMAN CONDITION which was released at the same time . Both films centre around a Japanese soldier who finds himself a member of a beaten army caught in both the unforgiving wilderness and in circumstances they have no control over . As you might expect from a Japanese film from this period it's beautifully framed and has breath taking cinematography and on a visual level comes lose to the old cliché that " once seen never ever forgotten but like THE HUMAN CONDITION there is a considerable problem with the story telling and like Kaji in that trilogy one has a problem believing in Tamura as a real person though for slightly different reasons
It is noticeable that even commentators who have praised the film on this page have pointed out something and that is the rather clumsy exposition the film constantly uses . Tamura's platoon leader gives Tamura a long winded explanation on what has happened in the events leading up the opening scene even though Tamura would be fully aware of all this . We get scenes of someone lying dead and someone feels the need to point out that they're even though it's obvious to the audience and not only does Tamura feel the need to point out that someone is dead he also exclaims " Japanese soldiers " to himself when he sees some Japanese soldiers .Some movies suffer from not following the rule " show don't tell " but this film feels the need to show and tell both at the same time . Not to be too ungenerous a lot of war films at this time also suffered from this most especially the British film DUNKIRK where each and every character spouts real life events in the same manner as a history professor would
If you stop to think about it , and believe me you don't need to think too hard about it , would there be any need for Tamura to be sent to hospital ? After all his platoon are prepared to fight to the last man and the Americans aren't too far away so why bother sending him to the hospital if he's expected to die very soon ? This is a clumsy plot device to set up an excuse for Tamura to carry the story through to its conclusion . Tamura doesn't really come across as a human being , more as a literary device to be caught up in brutal and harrowing situations . Make no mistake this is sometimes a brutal and genuinely harrowing film and despite being wonderfully shot and containing impressive technical merits it's perhaps a bit too contrived and implausible to be called a true classic of World cinema.
As soon as I saw the opening sequence of this movie I was instantly reminded of the classic Japanese trilogy THE HUMAN CONDITION which was released at the same time . Both films centre around a Japanese soldier who finds himself a member of a beaten army caught in both the unforgiving wilderness and in circumstances they have no control over . As you might expect from a Japanese film from this period it's beautifully framed and has breath taking cinematography and on a visual level comes lose to the old cliché that " once seen never ever forgotten but like THE HUMAN CONDITION there is a considerable problem with the story telling and like Kaji in that trilogy one has a problem believing in Tamura as a real person though for slightly different reasons
It is noticeable that even commentators who have praised the film on this page have pointed out something and that is the rather clumsy exposition the film constantly uses . Tamura's platoon leader gives Tamura a long winded explanation on what has happened in the events leading up the opening scene even though Tamura would be fully aware of all this . We get scenes of someone lying dead and someone feels the need to point out that they're even though it's obvious to the audience and not only does Tamura feel the need to point out that someone is dead he also exclaims " Japanese soldiers " to himself when he sees some Japanese soldiers .Some movies suffer from not following the rule " show don't tell " but this film feels the need to show and tell both at the same time . Not to be too ungenerous a lot of war films at this time also suffered from this most especially the British film DUNKIRK where each and every character spouts real life events in the same manner as a history professor would
If you stop to think about it , and believe me you don't need to think too hard about it , would there be any need for Tamura to be sent to hospital ? After all his platoon are prepared to fight to the last man and the Americans aren't too far away so why bother sending him to the hospital if he's expected to die very soon ? This is a clumsy plot device to set up an excuse for Tamura to carry the story through to its conclusion . Tamura doesn't really come across as a human being , more as a literary device to be caught up in brutal and harrowing situations . Make no mistake this is sometimes a brutal and genuinely harrowing film and despite being wonderfully shot and containing impressive technical merits it's perhaps a bit too contrived and implausible to be called a true classic of World cinema.