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Post by caucasoididiot on Oct 29, 2011 13:21:21 GMT -5
Since my Men of the Yamato writeup ended up having loads of culture notes, I put it in my blog instead of here. However, I found a YouTube post of an extended feature from Japanese morning TV that I figured was worth including. It starts with the trailers and then has a big chunk of the effects work, which is nicely executed if not always accurate. The film does succeed in being the Japanese Saving Private Ryan, though as I've suggested that makes it somewhat flawed in my own view. There has yet to be a Japanese Das Boot, and I'm not holding my breath. But what makes this clip significant is two actual Yamato survivors at the end. Japanese rarely speak openly of their feelings, and when they do it can be an almost convulsive thing as their characteristic reserve gives way. This clip evokes what the movie hoped to better than the movie itself for me, though whether that is true for the Japanese audiences at which it was aimed I can't say. I've translated the statements below. Yasugi Yasuo (78) The extinguishers can't put the fires out. What's going on all over the deck? Blood is splattered everywhere. Arms are flying into the sea, legs are flying into the sea. Through all that the medics run about, but some guys have been, you know, thrown overboard. The crew was clinging to the slanting deck. The front buttons of (my) uniform were torn away. (A guy) drew his sword and, with his cap wrapped around the blade, just 1.5 meters in front of me stabbed himself in the stomach. My only feeling was "what can I make of this?" Even now I am totally returned to it. That's the thing, the cherished impression of an excellent crewman, but before my eyes stabbing himself in the stomach, and nothing I could do. A crewmen meeting inevitable death, stabbing himself in the stomach. Soon thereafter, Yamato's demise felt like my own death. Stabbed himself in the stomach, I'd never seen anything like that. Lt. Cmdr. Kawasaki was Yamato's second in command. He was keeping the logbook afloat. "Stay calm, stay calm," he was saying. While swimming he passed the logbook to me. Drowning was my inevitable death . . . "Thank you, Second in Command!" [Note that I don't think has any of the sarcasm it might for an American]. "It's OK, you're young. Fight to live!" I hadn't thought to receive a life preserver from the second in command. I received life. It was only 5 meters to the rescue vessel, but he swam away to where Yamato had gone down, becoming one of those who never returned. "You live!" he was able to say, and yet the same man was able to go to his death before my eyes, what can I make of that? Really, the feeling of what to make of that continues to haunt me. Matsuoka Ryuuji (81) Right after the war I went to the (family) grave of my buddy, Yamaguchi, and it was the bitterest thing. Sakamoto's (Yamaguchi's mother) cheerfulness had returned, and yet . . . Why is it that her own son . . . speaks no comforting words to her, and there is only sadness? Why did only I continue living? To this very day that has been tied to my life; even good things, and things you'd call fortunate, I haven't escaped a speck of that feeling in them. Edit: Here's the Japan Times review of the film.
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Post by caucasoididiot on Oct 30, 2011 10:00:00 GMT -5
It's probably no accident that most of the movies in this thread are about WW2, with Vietnam probably next up. The former was the last all-out war, and the latter the last notable US war prior to 9/11.
Aside from the fact that they therefore are directly remembered by some segment of the audience (as it happens, this thread was inspired by my spending a lot of time with a WW2 vet recently), there's a problem with going too far back in history on a topic like this. I remember liking that Orlando Bloom one on the Horns of Hattin a few years back, but life in the 12th century is so foreign to a modern person that the experience of war is sort of hard to disentangle from that strangeness.
One I saw fairly recently from the Civil War was Gettysburg. I'd be curious what anyone, but particularly Crowfan, thought of it. It was similar to Tora! Tora! Tora! in trying for a semi-documentary approach, but while I did like it it didn't quite have the same impact. I did like the subplot of Armistead trying to arrange a meeting with Hancock; you'd think that between the brother-against-brother aspect and its being the highest casualty count of any US war that 1861~65 would be a more fertile topic for movies than it seems.
I haven't seen any on the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I'm so out-of-the-loop on current Hollywood, though I've heard good things about The Hurt Locker. Ongoing wars are sort of a tricky topic, I suppose. You run the risk of coming off as either a cheerleader or somehow disloyal, maybe even both at once. Then too, one sort of wonders how a movie about drone operators would come off.
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Post by Don Quixote on Oct 30, 2011 10:40:08 GMT -5
I love the original All Quiet on the Western Front. Has a bunch of stuff about warfare, but also things illustrating how disenfranchised a returning soldier tends to be. The fact that it takes place in WWI Germany only further accentuates that. The German attitude tended to be "Well, we're winning all the battles, so we must be winning the war.", and it's that attitude precisely that allowed Hitler to rise to prominence.
It's so interesting to watch period movies to see if they got the feeling of the period correct.
World War II had the Nazis. They are possibly one of the best real-life villains ever adopted to fiction (yes, I know, a lot of "Nazis" weren't really, and were just in the army, I get it.), but that war had very little grey area compared to other wars. I'd imagine that's what's so appealing.
I love movies about the Civil War, but good ones are definitely few and far between. That's one subject you're almost better off reading about, at least in my opinion.
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Post by caucasoididiot on Oct 30, 2011 11:34:28 GMT -5
I haven't seen that one for a long time, but I remember it not completely working for me, or at least not having the impact of the novel. My recollection was that it probably was the acting style of that era not seeming so naturalistic. World War II had the Nazis. They are possibly one of the best real-life villains ever adopted to fiction (yes, I know, a lot of "Nazis" weren't really, and were just in the army, I get it.), but that war had very little grey area compared to other wars. I'd imagine that's what's so appealing. Y'know, that's a great point. I remember le Carré once saying that he thought the appeal of James Bond was that he prosecuted the Cold War in the same direct and forceful way WW2 had been. Also reminds me of a quote that Halsey may or may not have said on returning to Pearl Harbor and seeing Battleship Row burning: "By the time we're done the Japanese language will only be spoken in Hell." As one friend of mine put it, for all the crawly sensation something like that brings 70 years on, at the same time one sort of envies that simplicity and unity of purpose.
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Post by Crowfan on Oct 31, 2011 19:40:35 GMT -5
To Hell And Back. The story of WW2's most decorated soldier, Audie Murphy. One of my favorite movies. Murphy plays himself. It holds up pretty well even today.
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Post by Crowfan on Oct 31, 2011 19:45:11 GMT -5
One I saw fairly recently from the Civil War was Gettysburg. I'd be curious what anyone, but particularly Crowfan, thought of it. It was similar to Tora! Tora! Tora! in trying for a semi-documentary approach, but while I did like it it didn't quite have the same impact. I did like the subplot of Armistead trying to arrange a meeting with Hancock; you'd think that between the brother-against-brother aspect and its being the highest casualty count of any US war that 1861~65 would be a more fertile topic for movies than it seems. . I really liked Gettysburg. Some of my reenactor friends were in the movie. I thought it was a very accurate depiction of battle. I know that with the real actors, Sheen, Berenger, etc. the critics focused on the fake looking beards. The battle scenes were cool and I thought they showed both the Confederate and Union sides fairly and realistically. You may want to avoid the second film in the trilogy, Gods And Generals. it's much much much more talky and the battles are too short, plus the movie skips the Battle of Antietam, because it was a Union victory. I don't think that the third film, The Last Full Measure, will ever be made.
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Post by Don Quixote on Oct 31, 2011 20:53:03 GMT -5
Considering how compromised Gods & Generals was, I should hope they don't make Last Full Measure. That whole book trilogy is great, but I still prefer Gone for Soldiers.
Now, a movie about the Mexican War? THERE's a movie that will never be made.
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Post by caucasoididiot on Oct 31, 2011 21:15:43 GMT -5
I hate to admit it, but I have Killer Angels lying around here somewhere, unread. It was optional for a class I was taking . . .
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Post by Don Quixote on Oct 31, 2011 21:40:51 GMT -5
It's a good read. Most of the Shaara books are pretty good, in fact. I haven't read the WWII books his son wrote, but most of the other ones are good.
Wonder if he wrote a book about the Spanish-American War...
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Post by Crowfan on Nov 1, 2011 15:01:23 GMT -5
It's a good read. Most of the Shaara books are pretty good, in fact. I haven't read the WWII books his son wrote, but most of the other ones are good. Wonder if he wrote a book about the Spanish-American War... Totally agree with this. I think you'd really enjoy his books Ijon.
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Post by caucasoididiot on Nov 1, 2011 16:22:34 GMT -5
I was actually thinking of rereading a collection of his short stories I have, but I think now I'll see if I can dig out Killer Angels instead. Too bad they didn't stick with that title . . . wonder if there's any truth to the story that focus groups thought it was a biker film. (^_^)
I was recollecting another interesting movie called The Beast. It was set in '80s Afghanistan, with a pack of Mujaheddin trailing a Soviet tank that got separated from its unit. It revolves around a conflict between one crewman and the tank commander, a guy somewhat scarred by having grown up in Stalingrad and spending his childhood detroying German tanks. The crewman, Konstantin, ends up with the Mujas in an interesting way.
One moment that especially sticks in my mind is a hermit putting the Mujas back on the tank's trail when he tells them he saw Goliath. Very effective shot of his pointing to the tread marks and crying, "Jalut!"
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Post by afriendlychicken on Nov 1, 2011 20:13:01 GMT -5
You know, being a fan of Japanese films, I'm not sure why I forgot about these:
First, the painful "Fires on the Plain:"
The three part nine-hour long "The Human Condition:"
Shohei Imamura's "Black Rain:"
This may be the most powerful anime film you'll ever see. "Grave of the Fireflies:"
And a Hollywood gem I'd forgotten about earlier, "Objective, Burma!:"
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Post by caucasoididiot on Nov 1, 2011 20:15:34 GMT -5
Thanks for reminding me! I found a link to a live action version of Grave of the Fireflies awhile back but never have gone back to check it out.
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Post by caucasoididiot on Nov 4, 2011 23:31:20 GMT -5
Here's the link to the live action Grave of the Fireflies. This one is a Japanese TV movie adaptation of the same novel the anime was done from. The site is free but with a time limit, so you'll need to pay or watch in chunks. The production values are TV movie quality, with so-so CGI that's not terribly accurate and guys whose hair is definitely too long for the era. The acting is actually pretty good for Japanese TV, which can mix the very good with the plain awful. Luckily, Sasaki Mao, playing the little girl Setsuko, is actually a pretty good child actor. I couldn't finish because it touched too many nerves, though not the ones a person might imagine. I guess that's a sort of a recommendation.
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Post by caucasoididiot on Nov 11, 2011 9:48:22 GMT -5
11 November makes me think of Abel Gance's J'Accuse, especially the opening sequence of a last patrol before the Armistice went into effect being carried back in.
I saw the '38 version years ago and have never forgotten it. The only scene on YouTube is the ending, where a crazy vet smells the second war coming. It's too much of a spoiler to watch, but the basic concept is probably one you can't avoid knowing before seeing the film, but just in case . . .
. . . he runs shrieking into a military cemetery, calling on the dead of the Great War to rise and stop it from happening again. They hear him.
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