203 kochi (1980)

Director:

Toshio Masuda

Writer:

Kazuo Kasahara

Stars:

Tatsuya Nakadai, Teruhiko Aoi, Toshirô Mifune

6 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tatsuya Nakadai	...	General Nogi
Teruhiko Aoi	...	Takeshi Koga
Toshirô Mifune	...	Emperor Meiji
Hisaya Morishige	...	Hirobumi Ito
Shigeru Kôyama	...	Aritomo Yamagata
Masako Natsume	...	Sachi Matsuo
Masayuki Yuhara	...	Kikumatsu Umetani
Kentaro Kaneko	...	Shigeru Amachi
Tetsurô Tanba	...	General Kodama
Makoto Satô
Yoshio Inaba
Akio Hasegawa
Akihiko Hirata
Yôko Nogiwa	...	Shizuko Nogi
Sen Yano

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

meiji | russo japanese war | japan | japanese army | 1900s | 

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Genres:

Drama | History | War

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

20 March 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

203 Plateaus

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toei Tokyo

Technical Specs

Runtime:

185 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"Sakimori no uta"
Written by Masashi Sada

User Reviews

Old fashioned gut and glory with a sentimental subplot

This is not exactly a masterpiece of of a movie. It depicts, generally, the "glorious" battle for Hill 203 during the Russo-Japanese war in 1905. The hill was eventually captured at stupendous loss of life on both the Japanese and Russian sides. The capture of the hill enabled the Japanese army to put pressure on the Russian pacific fleet, thus securing the Japanese victory together with Admiral Togo's "lucky" win in the coming naval battle.

The movie is sometimes quite heavy, complete with thick pancake make up even in close-ups and stunningly unrealistic beards. The fighting scenes are full of hands thrown up in the air and death cries, ketchup blood and people yelling banzai. All in all it reminds me of the kind of war movies put out in Hollywood about 30 years earlier. For history buffs and those interested in seeing a war movie with a more "oriental" flavour, I'd recommend it. I've never found a subtitled copy though the Japanese is not so difficult.

Worth noting are the actors playing Emperor Meiji, General Nogo and the young idealistic lieutenant who also provides the movie with a subplot of love, a woman left behind and the angst of combining an internationalist pacifist world view with a burning patriotism. Super stuff.