MovieChat Forums > Nobi (1959) Discussion > So what really were the fires on the pla...

So what really were the fires on the plain? (possible SPOILERS)

posted 16 years ago by Scarletfire-1
7 replies | jump to latest

I watched the film and at the end you get to see a closeup of the stuff that is burning in those dang fires on the plain - an it sure looked like corn husks to me. You can hear and just barely see some people thru the smoke on the other side. It never really showed them, so you couldn't tell for sure if they were farmers.

Then I watched the extras on the disc and there is some mention of the fires and how the soldiers thought that it was farmers that caused the fires? It came accross as a bit odd - as though maybe they were mistaken and it really wasn't farmers burning corn husks?? That was the impression I got from that interview. So am I missing something here - were the fires started by enemy soldires or farmers after all?

Thanks!

[–] overninethousand 15 years ago

It's quite unlikely the guerrillas would still do the fires in 1946 (that's when the film ends). So it was just farmers.

[–] nrangerseven 14 years ago

Why would the title of the film be Fires on the Plain if the fires had no significance? I read the book first and what we don't get a sense of in the film is the mistrust the Japanese soldiers had for those fires. Every time they saw a fire on the plain an attack would happen. When Tamura was off by himself wandering around he would suddenly see a fire and think he was spotted. They'd try to tell themselves it was just farmers but they were suspicious of all Filipinos. For some reason "overninethousand" is in denial and thinks all guerillas magically disappeared in 1946. Clearly the fires he stumbled toward in the end were not safe and NOT just farmers.

The people you idolize wouldn't like you.

[–] overninethousand 14 years ago

For some reason "overninethousand" is in denial and thinks all guerillas magically disappeared in 1946.

Just like all guerillas "magically disappear" once their guerrilla conflict ends.

Not "in 1946", but in 1945.

[–] Orbtastic 14 years ago

The film ends in '45, not '46?

The point of the fires is ambiguous - It shows how paranoid some of the soldiers are, but then the locals' actions give them cause for paranoia, so maybe the fires are markers for the allied artillery.

The main guy (forget his name) is just walking dead, he wants to die, he's past caring...so walks towards what he has been avoiding [in order to save his life] for the entire film.

[–] overninethousand 14 years ago

THE WAR ENDED IN 1945.

[–] Orbtastic 14 years ago

I'm well aware of that.

You said "It's quite unlikely the guerrillas would still do the fires in 1946 (that's when the film ends)".

You're wrong. The film ends in Feb 1945, not 1946. It quite clearly says "The Philippine Front, February 1945" in both Japanese and English.

[–] benbo-3 8 years ago

Simple - the farmers were burning the husks, and they were also armed guerrillas. Given their treatment at the hand of the Imperial Japanese, not hard to understand why they'd shoot at any soldier they saw.