MovieChat Forums > Otoko-tachi no Yamato (2005) Discussion > Shows what it really was: a huge slaught...

Shows what it really was: a huge slaughterhouse

posted 16 years ago by rolivire-1
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The tragic last sortie of the Yamato accomplished nothing, but thousands of killed ordinary soldiers on the Japanese side and the loss of the biggest battleship ever built, a fine cruiser and some destroyers. The "enemy" losing a dozen or so of aircraft, losses which were neglectable.

So war is cruel, painful and meaningless. Japan lost, most of its cities were wiped out. Because so few Japanese soldiers surrendered and prefered death above surrender, lessons learnt were also few.

In this respect the Japanese movie about the Yamato is great. It shows the life of common soldiers as normal human beings, being sacrified for the "honour of their country".

The beautiful music gives a special thrill to this movie.

The rebuilding of a part of the Yamato shows us how this giant really looked: impressive. But weak against its foes: the huge and very effective US air force.

The time of the battleship ended some years earlier at Taranto, the sinking of the most famous battleship of all time: the brand new Bismarck, the later sinkings of the Prince of Wales, Roma, Musashi and Tirpitz, which were all destroyed out of the air.

In fact most sunk battleships in WWII were destroyed by enemy air action. The big ship against ship duels were scarce.

[–] Chris1982 16 years ago

I agree, it was aircraft that proved to be more important also, aircraft carriers proved to be vital in World War Two, the Japanese never really got over the 4 carriers that they lost in the Battle of Midway which while not a decisive battle like some in history did give the US the strategic initiative and caused irreparable damage to the Japanese carrier force which in turn, shortened the war.

[–] pmiano100 16 years ago

There were some big ship duels in 1942 and the Japanese held their own, but after Guadalcanal, they were rare.

The planes that sunk the Yamoto were not from the U.S.(Army)Air Force (the Air Force was part of the Army until 1947). They were from the U.S. Navy Aviation Service, whose pilots were considered by the Japanese to be far more dangerous than those of the USAAF.

My late father fought in the Pacific from Pearl Harbor through Okinawa and was involved in that entire campaign. He had served on the USS Iowa for some time and believed that it could have defeated the Yamoto, but that victory was not guaranteed and would have been costly.