Near the very end of the movie Colonel Saito pulls out a knife and then conceals it quickly. Was this to suggest he was going to commit suicide (hari kari) or stab and kill Nicholson?
shareI wondered about that too. I don't think he would have killed himself (as the bridge was seen as a success at that point) but maybe he was planning on killing Nicholson so that he could claim the success as his own?
shareand suddenly he loses his knife once Nicholson asked about his knife.
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"People only want to hear what they want to hear"
Haven't read the book, but the way Col. Saito takes the knife out of his jacket in a very sneaky way suggests he was gonna kill Nicholson, not himself. Hari Kari is done with much ceremony. Col. Saito coulda done it the night before in his quarters if he wanted to do it properly.
watch the film 'Japan's Longest Day' to see how Hari Kari is properly done. Although it's not called Hari Kari in the film.
Yes, but we also see that ceremony being done the night before. He does nothing then, he does nothing with the knife the next day at the bridge.
It's almost as if there was a story there that was further explained with some footage that didn't make it into the final cut of the film. It seems an unfinished thread to the story.
Maybe it's just another sign of his wavering confidence. He could feel shame even with a properly finished and on-time bridge project because Colonel Nicholson does a much better job of getting the bridge built once he's put in charge.