Movielogr

Rating: 7.5 stars

Tags

dkutv WWII pacific islands Japanese fighter pilots losing battle sacrifice

All movies seen on 08/19/2020

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Farewell Rabaul (1954)

Directed by Ishirō Honda

War | Romance | Drama

Most recently watched by sleestakk

Overview

A squadron of Japanese fighter pilots realise that they are never going to win the war when they understand that Japanese military tactics have little regard for life. Seeking the companionship of any woman who will have them, they spend their days indulging in every fantasy in order to escape the overwhelming fear of death looming just over the horizon.

Length 105 minutes

Actors

Ryô Ikebe | Mariko Okada | Rentarô Mikuni | Chieko Nakakita | Akihiko Hirata | Akemi Negishi | Akira Kubo | Yû Fujiki | Kenji Sahara | Haruo Nakajima | Mayuri Mokushô | Bob Booth | Fuyuki Murakami | Akira Tani | Munenori Oyamada | Seijirô Onda | Etsuo Saijo | Masao Mizuno | Toyoaki Suzuki | 帯一郎 | Kiyoshi Kamoda | Masazumi Okabe | Shôichi Hirose | Saburô Kadowaki | Kimio Shimazaki | Yutaka Oka | Tsuneo Katagiri | Jun Mikami | Hideko Ebata | Kazumi Hanabusa | Kazuko Igarashi | Hiroko Terasawa | Yoko Ueno | Ryûtarô Amami | Kenzo Echigo | Haruya Sakamoto | Yutaka Sada | Masaaki Tachibana | Ichirô Chiba | Mitsuo Tsuda | Yasuhisa Tsutsumi | Mitsuo Matsumoto | Rinsaku Ogata | Hideo Shibuya | Minoru Itô | Masaki Shinohara | Ren Imaizumi | Kyôko Ozawa | Saeko Kuroiwa | Kôji Uruki | Junpei Natsuki

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

Thanks to Jay for alerting me that this was playing on DKUTV! Really well done WWII drama from Ishiro Honda, told from the Japanese point of view as they slid further into the losing side of the war.

The archival aerial combat footage was interesting and blended in well for the most part. But the bulk of the film is focused on the lives and relationships of the fighter pilots, support staff and comfort women as the war continues to deteriorate, more pilots are killed, and material and personnel replacements become less and less.

I think it’s a hard thing to come to terms with making sacrifices for your country when your country is on the wrong side of history. The cornerstone of Japanese society, toxic masculinity, is on full display here as well. The irony is that the pilots are ultimately the victims of their own masculinity, stoically sacrificing themselves for honor.

I wonder how Japanese audiences reacted to this film when it was released?

There are some really great shots and scenes peppered throughout, with nice camerawork and lighting. I’d love to see more of Honda’s non-science-fiction work.

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