Yamato (2005)
"Otoko-tachi no Yamato" (original title)

On April, 6th 2005, in Makurazi, Kagoshima, Makiko Uchida seeks a boat in the local fishing cooperative to take her to the latitude N30, longitude L128, where the largest, heaviest and most... See full summary »

Director:

Jun'ya Satô

Writers:

Jun Henmi (novel), Jun'ya Satô (screenplay)

Stars:

Takashi Sorimachi, Shidô Nakamura, Yû Aoi

6 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Takashi Sorimachi	...	Shohachi Moriwaki
Shidô Nakamura	...	Mamoru Uchida
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yû Aoi	...	Taeko
Takahiro Fujimoto
Jun'ichi Haruta	...	Hisao Koike
Ryo Hashizume	...	Yoshiharu Kojima (as Ryô Hashizume)
Ryûzô Hayashi	...	Ryunosuke Kusaka
Hiroyuki Hirayama	...	Tamaki
Hirotarô Honda	...	Tetsuzo Furumura
Hisashi Igawa	...	The Chairman
Sôsuke Ikematsu	...	Atsushi
Kenji Kaneko	...	Machimura
Hiroshi Katsuno	...	Nobue Morishita
Kôsei
Ken'ichi Matsuyama	...	Katsumi Kamio (15 years old)

Storyline

On April, 6th 2005, in Makurazi, Kagoshima, Makiko Uchida seeks a boat in the local fishing cooperative to take her to the latitude N30, longitude L128, where the largest, heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed Yamato was sunk on April, 7th 1945; however, her request is denied. She meets by chance the captain Katsumi Kamio of the fishing vessel Asukamaru and discloses that she is the stepdaughter of Officer Nagoya Uchida and Kamio immediately accepts to take her in the risky journey. While traveling with Makiko and the fifteen year-old Atsuchi, Kamio recalls and discloses the story of Yamato and his close friends that served on board of the battleship until the final suicidal mission in Okinawa. When they reach the spot where Yamato was sunk, he considers that he finally reached the end of the Showa era.

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Plot Keywords:

yamato | battleship | devoted mother | crying man | platoon comrades | 

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Genres:

War

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [jp]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

17 December 2005 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Yamato

Filming Locations:

Kure, Hiroshima, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Asahi Shimbun Newspaper, The, Chugoku Shimbun Newspaper, Hiroshima Home TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

145 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

During the credits, the view shifts between underwater and "historical" scenes. In one underwater scene, one of this ship's port side gun houses is in view. The corresponding "historical" view fades to one of the ship's 5" mounts (2 guns/ mount). In the underwater scene, there are clearly 3 openings for cannon in the gun house. This means the mount in the underwater view is a 25mm gun house.

User Reviews

Latitude N30, Longitude L128

On April, 6th 2005, in Makurazi, Kagoshima, Makiko Uchida (Kyôka Suzuki) seeks a boat in the local fishing cooperative to take her to the latitude N30, longitude L128, where the largest, heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed Yamato was sunk on April, 7th 1945; however, her request is denied. She meets by chance the captain Katsumi Kamio (Tatsuya Nakadai) of the fishing vessel Asukamaru and discloses that she is the stepdaughter of Officer Nagoya Uchida (Shidô Nakamura) and Kamio immediately accepts to take her in the risky journey. While traveling with Makiko and the fifteen year-old Atsuchi (Sosuke Ikematsu), Kamio recalls and discloses the story of Yamato and his close friends that served on board of the battleship until the final suicidal mission in Okinawa. When they reach the spot where Yamato was sunk, he considers that he finally reached the end of the Shōwa era.

"Otoko-tachi no Yamato" is a dramatic movie based on the true story of the Battleship Yamato in World War II. This film gives an approach of Japanese relationship in war totally different from the stereotype of American and European movies of this genre that usually treat Japanese soldiers as cold blood killers detached from any emotions. In "Yamato!", the Japanese military are human beings, with beloved ones, families and comradeship between them, giving more credibility to the story. However, director Junya Sato exaggerates in the melodramatic subplots and in many moments the viewer has the sensation of watching a soap-opera instead of a drama. The final battle of Yamato is engaging and one of the best moments of this film. The music score is repetitive and boring and I personally did not like it. Last but not the least, the Shōwa period mentioned by Katsumi Kamio in one of his last lines literally means, in accordance with the Wikipedia, "period of enlightened peace", or Shōwa era, is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito), from December 25th, 1926 to January 7th, 1989. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Yamato"