Yamato

Yamatoposter.jpg

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  • Movie: Yamato
  • Romaji: Otoko-tachi no Yamato
  • Japanese: 男たちの大和
  • Director: Junya Sato
  • Writer: Jun Henmi (novel), Junya Sato (screenplay)
  • Producer: Haruki Kadokawa, Noriko Koyanagi, Sunao Sakagami, Tan Takaiwa
  • Cinematographer: Yoshitaka Sakamoto
  • Release Date: December 17, 2005
  • Runtime: 145 min.
  • Genre: Award Winning / Award Winning-War / Maritime
  • Distributor: Toei
  • Language: Japanese
  • Country: Japan

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HK As a Korean, I was skeptical about this film when I first heard about it and dismissed the idea of ever seeing it due to a feeling it might be overtly nationalistic. I decided to give it a chance though after seeing a clip on the Internet and after having read a few reviews that compared it favorably with other films I've enjoyed like "Das Boat". That said, I do no regret for one second my decision to watch this movie. It really did justice to a previously unknown story outside of Japan about the fate of the largest battleship in the world at that time, the Yamato. While this story has been either lost in the annals of war or dismissed entirely by its victors as one of the many retributions deservedly heaped upon Imperial Japan for having started the war in the first place, one suspects after a while that the one-sided versions of what comprise most of the history of the Pacific War are exactly that - unbalanced and devoid of other voices. Yamato introduces us to those other voices, and just like Das Boat, I was able to acquire a more up-close-and-personal view of "the enemy" that was less caricatured and more nuanced. For example, how many people knew that the average age of the majority of the 3000 plus crew aboard Yamato was only 16? Or that despite the Western portrayal of all Japanese during WW2 as death-crazed suicidal fanatics, the commander of the Yamato opposed his superiors ordering him into battle unescorted with no air cover during the last days of the Battle for Okinawa knowing full well it was a death sentence for him and his men? These are not the stories that are told by the victors. These are survivor stories being shared posthumously by a former foe and opponent that are worth paying attention to because they shatter the myth of a monolithic adersary. It is only when we realize that it is the same fears, ambivalence and concerns that serve as the common denominator for all young men going to war especially when we realize how these young boys were used as pawns and cruelly wasted in a futile action that had no rhyme or reason.