Posts Tagged ‘japanese-army’

Too Late the Hero (1970)

Friday, March 28th, 2008
Genres: Action | Drama | War
Countries: USA
Actors: Caine, Michael | Robertson, Cliff | Bannen, Ian | Andrews, Harry | Fraser, Ronald | Elliott, Denholm | Percival, Lance | Herbert, Percy | Jordan, Patrick | Kydd, Sam | Beckley, William | Horsey, Martin | Jason, Harvey | Knight, Don | Newman, Roger
Directors: Aldrich, Robert
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A WWII film set on a Pacific island. Japanese and allied forces occupy different parts of the island. When a group of British soldiers are sent on a mission behind enemy lines, things don’t go exactly to plan. This film differs in that some of the ‘heros’ are very reluctant, but they come good when they are pursued by the Japanese who are determined to prevent them returning to base.

Akira (1988)

Thursday, February 14th, 2008
Genres: Action | Adventure | Animation | Sci-Fi | Thriller
Countries: Japan
Actors: Iwata, Mitsuo | Sasaki, Nozomu | Koyama, Mami | Genda, Tesshô | Ôtake, Hiroshi | Kitamura, Kôichi | Ikemizu, Michihiro | Fuchizaki, Yuriko | Ôkura, Masaaki | Arakawa, Tarô | Kusao, Takeshi | Tanaka, Kazumi | Katô, Masayuki | Akimoto, Yôsuke | Hirano, Masato
Directors: Ôtomo, Katsuhiro
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Kaneda is a bike gang leader whose close friend Tetsuo gets involved in a government secret project known as Akira. On his way to save Tetsuo, Kaneda runs into a group of anti-government activists, greedy politicians, irresponsible scientists and a powerful military leader. The confrontation sparks off Tetsuo’s supernatural power leading to bloody death, a coup attempt and the final battle in Tokyo Olympiad where Akira’s secrets were buried 30 years ago.

Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957)

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008
Genres: Adventure | Drama | War
Countries: UK | USA
Actors: Holden, William | Hawkins, Jack | Guinness, Alec | Hayakawa, Sessue | Donald, James | Horne, Geoffrey | Morell, André | Williams, Peter | Boxer, John | Herbert, Percy | Goodwin, Harold | Sears, Ann | Okawa, Heihachiro | Katsumoto, Keiichiro | Chakrabandhu, M.R.B.
Directors: Lean, David
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The film deals with the situation of British prisoners of war during World War II who are ordered to build a bridge to accommodate the Burma-Siam railway. Their instinct is to sabotage the bridge but, under the leadership of Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness), they are persuaded that the bridge should be constructed as a symbol of British morale, spirit and dignity in adverse circumstances. At first, the prisoners admire Nicholson when he bravely endures torture rather than compromise his principles for the benefit of the Japanese commandant Saito (Sessue Hayakawa). He is an honorable but arrogant man, who is slowly revealed to be a deluded obsessive. He convinces himself that the bridge is a monument to British character, but actually is a monument to himself, and his insistence on its construction becomes a subtle form of collaboration with the enemy. Unknown to him, the Allies have sent a mission into the jungle, led by Warden (Jack Hawkins) and an American, Shears (William Holden), to blow up the bridge.

Flags of Our Fathers (2006)

Saturday, August 18th, 2007
Genres: Action | Drama | History | War
Countries: USA
Actors: Phillippe, Ryan | Bradford, Jesse | Beach, Adam | Hickey, John Benjamin | Slattery, John | Pepper, Barry | Bell, Jamie | Walker, Paul | Patrick, Robert | McDonough, Neal | Lynskey, Melanie | McCarthy, Thomas | Bauer, Chris | Ivey, Judith | Turley, Myra
Directors: Eastwood, Clint
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In February, 1945, one of the fiercest battles of the Pacific theater of World War II occurs on the tiny island of Iwo Jima. Thousands of Marines attack the stronghold maintained by thousands of Japanese, and the slaughter on both sides is horrific. Early in the battle, an American flag is raised atop the high point, Mount Suribachi, and a photograph of the raising becomes an American cause celebre. As a powerful inspiration to war-sick Americans, the photo becomes a symbol of the Allied cause. The three surviving flag raisers, Rene Gagnon, John Bradley, and Ira Hayes, are whisked back to civilization to help raise funds for the war effort. But the accolades for heroism heaped upon the three men are at odds with their own personal realizations that thousands of real heroes lie dead on Iwo Jima, and that their own contributions to the fight are only symbolic and not deserving of the singling out they are experiencing. Each of the three must come to terms with the honors, exploitation, and grief that they face simply for being in a photograph.

Last Emperor, The (1987)

Thursday, March 15th, 2007
Genres: Biography | Drama | History
Countries: China | France | Italy | UK
Actors: Lone, John | Chen, Joan | O'Toole, Peter | Ying, Ruocheng | | Dun, Dennis | Sakamoto, Ryuichi | Han, Maggie | Young, Ric | Wu, Vivian | Tagawa, Cary-Hiroyuki | Go, Jade | Ikeda, Fumihiko | Vuu, Richard | Tijger, Tsou
Directors: Bertolucci, Bernardo
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A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People’s Republic.

Empire of the Sun (1987)

Monday, February 12th, 2007
Genres: Drama | War
Countries: USA
Actors: Bale, Christian | Malkovich, John | Richardson, Miranda | Havers, Nigel | Pantoliano, Joe | Phillips, Leslie | Ibu, Masatô | Richard, Emily | Frazer, Rupert | Gale, Peter | Kataoka, Takatoro | Stiller, Ben | Neidorf, David | Seymour, Ralph | Stephens, Robert
Directors: Spielberg, Steven
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An aristocratic British youth is seperated from his family at the start of World War II after the Japanese Army invades British controlled areas of China. Reduced to living on the street and fighting for food, the youth is eventually interned in a Japanese POW camp for British civilians. Here, admiration quickly develops both for captured American pilots and the Japanese themselves. When the war ends, the boy torn from everything he knew attempts to again find his parents.

Last Samurai, The (2003)

Thursday, February 1st, 2007
Genres: Action | Adventure | Drama | War
Countries: Japan | New Zealand | USA
Actors: Shin Koyamada | Watanabe, Ken | Cruise, Tom | Atherton, William | Lindberg, Chad | Godshall Sr., Ray | Connolly, Billy | Goldwyn, Tony | Harada, Masato | Odate, Masashi | Koyama, John | Spall, Timothy | Nakamura, Shichinosuke | Igawa, Togo | Nikaido, Satoshi | Wada, Shintaro
Directors: Zwick, Edward
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In the 1870s, Captain Nathan Algren, a cynical veteran of the American Civil war who will work for anyone, is hired by Americans who want lucrative contracts with the Emperor of Japan to train the peasant conscripts for the first standing imperial army in modern warfare using firearms. The imperial Omura cabinet’s first priority is to repress a rebellion of traditionalist Samurai -hereditary warriors- who remain devoted to the sacred dynasty but reject the Westernizing policy and even refuse firearms. Yet when his ill-prepared superior force sets out too soon, their panic allows the sword-wielding samurai to crush them. Badly wounded Algren’s courageous stand makes the samurai leader Katsumoto spare his life; once nursed to health he learns to know and respect the old Japanese way, and participates as advisor in Katsumoto’s failed attempt to save the Bushido tradition, but Omura gets repressive laws enacted- he must now choose to honor his loyalty to one of the embittered sides when the conflict returns to the battlefield…