Ore wa, kimi no tame ni koso shini ni iku (2007)

Young Japanese pilots are trained to sink Allied warships by flying into them.

Director:

Taku Shinjô

Writer:

Shintarô Ishihara

Stars:

Ryôhei Abe, Tôru Emori, Katsutaka Furuhata

Cast

Credited cast:
Ryôhei Abe
Tôru Emori
Katsutaka Furuhata
Cleve Gray	...	Bloodied Sailor
Ichirô Hashimoto
Masatô Ibu	...	Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi
Renji Ishibashi
Hiroshi Katsuno
Keisaku Kimura
Noboru Kimura
Keiko Kishi	...	Torihama
Yôsuke Kubozuka
Yasuyuki Maekawa
Mikage
Yuji Miyashita

Storyline

With the war turning against the Japanese, the military high command consider the use of suicide pilots to attack allied shopping in the Pacific. In the south of Japan, young pilots arrive to begin preparations for their first and only missions. Nearby to the kamikaze training base, a tavern owner provides comfort and respite despite objections from the military. The movie highlights the the dichotomy of dying for Japan, without having experienced Japanese life in full.

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

12 May 2007 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Kamikaze

Filming Locations:

Daigomachi, Ibaraki, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nippon Television Network (NTV),Toei Company,Toei Video Company

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Kamikaze pilots were often very young and only received minimal training. For example, Kiyoshi Ogawa was 17 when he made his attack against USS Bunker Hill. Many pilots in this film are shown as immature and dependant on others when not training for their mission.

User Reviews

A lady's memoirs of the young kamikaze pilots who ate at her diner, as told by the Governor of Tokyo

We are told early on that the kamikaze missions were entirely suicidal, and that therefore sinking a ship wasn't half as important as dying in front of the enemy. In the same breath, "voluntary" enlistment for those missions is revealed to have been an irrevocable order. Once the demented premise established, the episodes of various young men and how they spent their last moments come and go, as simply and as mercilessly as History sent off its zero fighters. The grainy footage and detail to military mannerism and apparatus give an authentic flavor that counterbalances the poor effects and sparse, but undeniable awful (child) acting. The first two thirds are drama heavy, and the climactic beautifully and obviously computer-generated aerial battle comes early at the head of the third act, which then peters out into a dragging epilogue about the aftermath of war that stretches out of the frame into the present. Personally, I have never found that plot device a good idea to begin with, but it is especially poorly executed in Japanese movies, such as Otoko-tachi no Yamato (2005), Lorelei (2005), The Twilight Samurai (2002), or Murudeka 17805 (2001). The credits should start rolling right after the last plane crashes, leaving the remaining twenty minutes to those who wish to stay seated. The weight of the movie still rests in the first half hour, but that alone is worth the price of admission. The Governor of Tokyo scripted the movie based on the stories he heard from the diner lady around whom the movie is centered.