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scottishlassToday, I want to review a different kind of movie from the usual. It is still Asian, it still stars Kimura Takuya amongst others (Sorimachi Takashi aka GTO is also playing a part), but only a few on my flist know that I'm a glutton for WW2 movies. Mostly British ones, but still.
After Tora, Tora, Tora, a movie from the 1960's(?), Kimi wo Wasurenai is my second movie that I have watched that is from the Japanese POV. It is not a great movie, it has its flaws but I was deeply touched by the portrayal of those six young pilots who all volunteered to be Kami-kaze (divine wind).
I had always wondered in what kind of state of mind these pilots must have been to become suicide pilots. In Germany we have a similar history of pilots but not to the extent like in Japanese history.
The movie gives a little insight in how these young men ticked, how they lived, trained, loved before going on their ultimate and final mission. It is heart-breaking to see that these guys are forming a unit, that they become friends through playing pranks on each other and getting into bar fights. That some of them find love, or run from love, all knowing that this has no future. Most of the time it is a very funny movie and you easily forget that this is actually a movie about young Kami-kaze pilots. Their fate or mission is treated so casually, as if being a suicide pilot is the most normal thing in their world of Japan in 1945. Which it was of course, considering Japanese military history. Kami-kaze are more or less seen as the successors of samurai of old times. Like the samurai, for the kamikaze pilots bushi do (way of the warrior) and its rules, traditions and implications was very important. Liek the Samurai a kami kaze had to give his life for his daimyo (lord/king/tenno) and it didn't matter if he lost it by enemy hand or through his own if necessary.
The six pilots who are portrayed here very much are like the samurais of old. They know their mission will never change the outcome of this war and yet they are determined to fulfill this madcap mission.
I liked the movie very much, and not only because Kimura-san was part in it. It is more or less a very quiet movie, and it doesn't ask for right or wrong or who is the bad guy. The suicide squad is portrayed like any other squadron without pathos. Perhaps the real pathos is with the guys, every one of the has his reason to be part of this mission and how they deal with the outcome. The moment they board their planes, they are alone, they won't see each other ever again. And they are not doing it for tenno or fatherland but for their families, friends, for the people and most of all for each other.
After Tora, Tora, Tora, a movie from the 1960's(?), Kimi wo Wasurenai is my second movie that I have watched that is from the Japanese POV. It is not a great movie, it has its flaws but I was deeply touched by the portrayal of those six young pilots who all volunteered to be Kami-kaze (divine wind).
I had always wondered in what kind of state of mind these pilots must have been to become suicide pilots. In Germany we have a similar history of pilots but not to the extent like in Japanese history.
The movie gives a little insight in how these young men ticked, how they lived, trained, loved before going on their ultimate and final mission. It is heart-breaking to see that these guys are forming a unit, that they become friends through playing pranks on each other and getting into bar fights. That some of them find love, or run from love, all knowing that this has no future. Most of the time it is a very funny movie and you easily forget that this is actually a movie about young Kami-kaze pilots. Their fate or mission is treated so casually, as if being a suicide pilot is the most normal thing in their world of Japan in 1945. Which it was of course, considering Japanese military history. Kami-kaze are more or less seen as the successors of samurai of old times. Like the samurai, for the kamikaze pilots bushi do (way of the warrior) and its rules, traditions and implications was very important. Liek the Samurai a kami kaze had to give his life for his daimyo (lord/king/tenno) and it didn't matter if he lost it by enemy hand or through his own if necessary.
The six pilots who are portrayed here very much are like the samurais of old. They know their mission will never change the outcome of this war and yet they are determined to fulfill this madcap mission.
I liked the movie very much, and not only because Kimura-san was part in it. It is more or less a very quiet movie, and it doesn't ask for right or wrong or who is the bad guy. The suicide squad is portrayed like any other squadron without pathos. Perhaps the real pathos is with the guys, every one of the has his reason to be part of this mission and how they deal with the outcome. The moment they board their planes, they are alone, they won't see each other ever again. And they are not doing it for tenno or fatherland but for their families, friends, for the people and most of all for each other.
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Kimi Wo Wasurenai
Date: 2009-06-11 11:32 pm (UTC)Re: Kimi Wo Wasurenai
Date: 2009-06-20 11:17 am (UTC)Please do not share the links outside of the community though. We pay for our permanent MU accounts and it already happened that other page owners stole the upload links and offered them on their own sites :(
Re: Kimi Wo Wasurenai
Date: 2009-06-20 01:50 pm (UTC)Re: Kimi Wo Wasurenai
Date: 2009-07-19 12:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-30 07:42 am (UTC)I like the way Kimura played his role. He was so attractive of course, but he stood a little apart in the group as did the leader. Each one of them had a separate personality and yet they all came together as brothers as they flew out to the final battle. It is a film that you can watch more than once and enjoy it very much.