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7.9/10
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In the closing days of WWII, remnants of the Japanese army in Leyte are abandoned by their command and face certain death by starvation.In the closing days of WWII, remnants of the Japanese army in Leyte are abandoned by their command and face certain death by starvation.In the closing days of WWII, remnants of the Japanese army in Leyte are abandoned by their command and face certain death by starvation.
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- TriviaIn order to achieve maximum authenticity, actors were fed very little, and were not permitted to tend to matters of simple hygiene such as brushing their teeth and cutting their nails. As a precaution against serious deterioration of the actors' health, a number of nurses were always on call on the set. Eiji Funakoshi was never specifically told not to eat. He willingly abstained from eating to help get himself into character. The rest of the cast and crew were unaware of this until he eventually collapsed on the set. Production was shut down for two weeks.
- ConnectionsFeatured in L'Oeil du cyclone: Cannibalisme, réalité ou fantasme (1995)
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A good description of a good movie
This is probably one of the best examples of that film genre known as the anti-war movie. It is a story about a group a Japanese soldiers in the last days of the second world war,weakened,demoralized,and starving. The situation deteriorates even further when one of them resorts to cannibalism in an attempt to ward off hunger. As they shuffle their way through the jungle one notices their shabby appearance with their feet sticking out of their boots and a sense of resignation or futility about them. It has even an element of the absurd about it in one of the scenes when one of the soldiers pleads to a comrade to eat him. This portrayal of them appeals to one's sense of pity or sympathy regardless of what cause or nation they're fighting for. For their situation could be anyone's unfortunate fate if circumstances were unfavorable. If there is one thing this film can show or get across is that our sense of humanity or what makes us feel civilized, is but a thin veneer or facade that in the right or wrong situation can vanish. The stark truth as depicted in this movie is that we are only always a few steps away from returning to the jungle if given the chance. This reminds me of another movie"Lord Of The Flies" which was about a group of English schoolboys stranded on an island after a plane crash. After awhile they descend or regress into a bunch of jungle savages or barbarians losing whatever decorum or civilization they possessed.
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- zorbathegeek
- Apr 21, 2003
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- Runtime1 hour 48 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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