MovieChat Forums > Nihon no ichiban nagai hi ketteiban (2015) Discussion > A film mostly for World War II history b...

A film mostly for World War II history buffs


August 15 of this year was the 70th Anniversary of the end of World War II, and Japanese filmmakers have chosen this time for the release of this film which dealt with the closing stages of the War before Japan's final surrender. It might be noted that controversies have lasted to this day. Several countries including China and Korea are still demanding reparations and Japanese admission of war guilt for starting a war of aggression and the atrocities committed. On the other hand, many IMDb posters here - whose knowledge of the Pacific War was limited to one or two sentences about Pearl Harbor and the atomic bombs - have made used of every war film message board to attack the US for "inhumanity" on the Japanese population. This film at least made the viewers aware of some historical facts that even some WWII history enthusiasts are not aware of.

This film was based on the book Japan's Longest Day, whose early excerpts had already been made into another film (which I have not seen) in the 1960s. As is to be expected, despite the inevitable dramatization of certain parts, there is a high degree of historical accuracy. The events in the film started around April 1945 up to the time of surrender. It was some kind of recounting what happened month by month, and later day by day and even hour by hour on the last fateful day. No country or even group or individual was the villain in the film. It simply told the story, and for that reason has been criticized by some as being too detached in neglecting any comment or discussion on Japan's responsibility for starting a war of aggression and the sufferings that caused. But to be fair, the film was supposed to depict the mentality of the Japanese at the time, and with the country almost completely prostrate, war guilt was probably the least of the Japanese Government's concerns.

The film did not turn the Allies into villains either. Instead, it simply depicted the mentality of the US and Japanese governments at the time, and the political reality and conditions that finally led to the decision to drop the atomic bombs, and also the subsequent Japanese reaction. It was made clear that the new cabinet under Suzuki was inclined towards peace, and he and Emperor Hirohito were inclined towards acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration to end further human suffering. However, many factions of the Army were violently opposed to that. They insisted on a fight on home ground to the finish to maintain Japanese "honor", even if that was to end in total destruction of the nation and its people. Even after the dropping of the first bomb at Hiroshima and Soviet "betrayal" by choosing that opportunity to declare war, they insisted on negotiating terms that obviously would have been unacceptable to the Allies just in order to continue the war. In the film we see local militia being issued firearms that dated from the turn of the Century, and young girls training with bamboo spears, which really happened according to various accounts. Casualties on both sides would indeed have been great had an invasion of Japanese homeland occurred.

The main happenings were of course on the last day. There was an army plot to seize the Emperor and impound his recordings of the declaration of surrender the next day. Of course we know that the coup failed but that was indeed a close call. There were also other attempts to assassinate Suzuki and the others, but those were not really shown in the film.

The approach was documentary like, which was both an advantage and a disadvantage. The film was objective in showing what actually happened, but character development somewhat suffered because the scenes shifted between too many characters and moreover, sometimes we are not clear what was in their minds. Admiral Suzuki, the new prime minister, started as the main character but almost disappeared in the second half of the film. We also know little about Emperor Hirohito's thoughts except his humanistic concerns. Major Hatanaka, the coup leader, and their supporters were also one-dimensional as rabid supporters for continuation of the War. The army minister Anami seemed to be the only one to display some depth and inner conflict in his character.

The film of about two and a half hours was a little too long, as there were actually few events of significance except the coup, and any viewer would know that its failure was a forgone conclusion. History buffs, however, would certainly like to see a fairly accurate recounting of the not so well-known events on this fateful day before the Japanese surrender.

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