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Under the Flag of the Rising Sun Director: Kinji Fukasaku Number of Items: 1 Format: Black & White, Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Running Time: 96 minutes Studio: Image Entertainment Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2005-06-07 Buy from Amazon |
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From Amazon.com Of the many fine films by Kinji Fukasaku to be released on DVD throughout 2004-05, Under the Flag of the Rising Sun is arguably the most unforgettable. As Japanese film scholar Tom Mes observes in an accompanying essay, it is also an important milestone in Fukasaku's prolific career, since it departs from the director's popular Yakuza films (most notably the epic Yakuza Papers series) while angrily exploring Fukasaku's dominant theme of post-World War II trauma and its anguished effect on Japanese society. Fukasaku claimed this was the film that crystallized his signature visual style, employing color, black and white, freeze-frames, negative images, documentary photographs, and shocking violence to tell the powerful story of a long-grieving widow in contemporary early 1970s Japan (Sachiko Hidari), still struggling to determine the truth behind her husband's court martial and execution on the New Guinea front during the final days of World War II. As she interviews surviving members of her husband's garrison in an effort to clear his name, a Rashomon-like tapestry of conflicting testimony unfolds to form a harrowing, collage of wartime atrocity, endurance, and survival by any means necessary. The cumulative impact of the widow's quest turns this into one of Fukasaku's most intensely focused dramas, leading to a devastating conclusion that qualifies Under the Flag of the Rising Sun as an unflinching classic, ripe for rediscovery as a searing indictment of war and its long-term emotional aftermath. As she did for The Yakuza Papers, Fukasaku expert and ace translator-subtitler Linda Hoaglund provides an insightful commentary that will greatly enhance anyone's appreciation for this and all of Fukasaku's films. --Jeff Shannon From Description Sachiko Hidari gives a towering performance in Kinji Fukasaku's devastating anti-war drama as Mrs.Togashi, a war widow determined to clear the name of her disgraced husband, who was court-martialed for desertion and executed. Official records have been destroyed, and the ministry that distributes benefits continues to deny her a pension. Twenty-six years after the war, she seeks out four survivors of her husband's garrison. Each tells a dramatically different story about her husband's conduct, but she is determined to learn the truth. "Until my husband can rest in peace," she proclaims, "I'll have no comfort." Thus begins a Rashomon-like mystery that unfolds in harrowing flashbacks, punctuated by archival still combat images that convey the brutality and absurdity of war. |
 "Visually Poetic Tale of Misery, Forgetfulness, and Death in the Shadow of War..."The director Kinji Fukasaku entered his adolescence during World War II and crossed the bridge into adulthood in postwar Japan. It was a time of disorder, chaos, and poverty where crime quickly rooted while spreading more problems among the struggling Japanese people. The chaotic time had a major impact on Fukasaku who later returned to postwar time through several of his gangster films. These films often presented a violent illustration of the time he experienced as a coming of age teen. Among the films that stand out are his The Yakuza Papers and Under the Flag of the Rising Sun. Under the Flag of the Rising Sun is step away from Fukasaku's gangster films, as he tells a tale from the same time that affected him so much, but under a different light. Fukasaku's inspiration sources from Shoji Yuki's novel Under the Flag, which he bought the film rights for with his own money. What grabbed him in the novel was the dehumanization through war. The film received much attention, even the critics who disdained his violent gangster films praised this film for its inspirational narrative and forceful message. Fukasaku opens the film with old archived pictures from the immense Japanese war machine of World War II. This swiftly switches through sudden cuts that move 26 years into the future after the Japanese defeat where the Emperor in commemorative ceremony pays respects to fallen soldiers. At the end of the ceremony a text reveals that out of the three million casualties some are denied the attention that these casualties receive. Among these is the widow Sakie husband Sergeant Katsuo Togashi who only know that her husband was executed due to desertion in combat. However, the records of his death are circumstantially weak. Thus, she seeks the truth of why and how the death of her husband came about. The Japanese Ministry of Welfare have their hands tied behind their backs, as they have no other choice than to follow the records kept despite possible faulty record keeping. Yet, they provide Sakie with four names of survivors that might be able to help shed some light on the circumstances around her husband's death. In a clever narrative, which bears similarities with Kurosawa's Rashômon (1950), Fukasaku shows Sakie's visit to these four men. Each man is telling a story from his own perspective of the war in the New Guinea front where many died from starvation, illness, and possibly through battle. All stories are told differently through harrowing personal accounts of what they experienced in regards to Sergeant Togashi. These personal tales open with archived photos from the war while drifting over to black and white that crosses into color in order to maximize the gruesomeness of war. Through these stories the viewer gets to bear witness to different stories within the story, which makes the film even more fascinating. Through the film the audience learns that the film tells a very dark and genuine image of the war. The image is enhanced through the camerawork of Hiroshi Segawa who develop a strong feeling of a documentary, which is augmented with the photos that have been edited into the film. Fukasaku developed a brilliant criticism toward war and the wrongdoings connected with war through Under the Flag of the Rising Sun. However, he extends his criticism by displaying that some still believed they were invincible regardless of the defeat. The shock of defeat might also have slowed the healing processes of Japan and left many in a prolonged state of suffering that continued for years and decades past the war. A theme that is repeated throughout the film is forgetfulness and the desire to forget the pain of the past. Fukasaku portrays people's ability to forget the war problems in trying to teach the emerging youthful society that does not know anything about the war horrors. This notion suggests that when youth inherits the powerful positions within society they might repeat the horrors of war, as they never fully gained knowledge of the war due to previous generation's desire to forget the painful past. A symbolic scene for the forgetfulness displays two different generations with a generation in between that is missing. This scene shows a grandfather smiling and lecturing in the old ways of Japan to Sakie while his little granddaughter walks up and asks, "What's wrong grandfather?" The grandfather replies, "Nothing." Well, if nothing was wrong, Sakie would not have been troubled or trying to discover the truth, a truth hidden in pain and gruesomeness of war that keeps linger for more than one generation due to desire to forget. Under the Flag of the Rising Sun is Fukasaku attempts to put a stick in the wheel, which hopefully will help prevent a similar mistake from taking place once more. Ultimately, Fukasaku created a visually poetic tale of misery, forgetfulness, and death. ""Rashomon effect" "Sachiko Hidari is brilliant as a World War II widow vainly seeking to restore her husbands honor-lost when he was executed for alleged desertion. Visiting several survivors-she encounters "The Rashomon Effect"-people remembering themselves as more than they really were-as she vainly attempts to discover the truth. An excellent movie-depicting the lower depths of humanity when survival is at stake. This movie is effectively anti-war without promoting any special agendas other than to show that "War is Hell" This is the only movie of Fukasaku's that I've seen-so I can't compare it to his "Yakuza" movies--but IMO-it's an excellent movie-well worth purchasing! Caution-movie is sub-titled (for those who worry about such things) "amazing w.w.2 drama"This film is one of the most important japanese classical war cinema ever made. Made in early seventies, director Kinji Fukasaku and screenwriter Kaneto Shindo aggressivly accuse japanese imperialism and militarism. This Original novel was chosen naoki-prize (famous japanese literature prize) in 1970, written by Joji Yuki inspired from nearly true story in W.W.2. |
