's new film "Onoda: Nights in the Jungle" tells the saga of the controversial World War II Japanese soldier Onoda Hiroro , and the themes of nationalism and fake news in the film are now more relevant.
Onoda Hiroro (hat-wearer in the middle) came out of the jungle in 1974
In December 1944, in the last months of World War II , Japanese Second Lieutenant Onoda Hiroro was stationed on a small island in Philippines Lubang Island. In the weeks following Onoda's arrival, U.S. attacks forced Japanese soldiers into the jungle -- but unlike most of his comrades, Onoda remained hidden on the island for nearly 30 years. In 1959, the Japanese government declared him dead, but in reality, he was alive - he believed he was on a secret mission to take control of the island before the return of the imperial army. He had always believed that the war was never over.
Onoda received a heroic welcome when he returned to Japan in 1974 - he was the last Japanese soldier to return from the war, and his memoirs were published soon after and became a bestseller. His experience was filmed by Arthur Harari in the film Onoda: Nights in the Jungle. The film, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021, recently opened in the UK to critical acclaim and controversy. German film director Werner Herzog will publish a novel based on the story in June 2022, and Australian-Filipino filmmaker Mia Stewart will complete a documentary on the subject later in 2022.
Onoda's story is clearly an intriguing subject matter, but with the themes of war, nationalism and "fake news" more relevant than ever, his story is still the same as when he walked out of the jungle nearly 50 years ago Equally fascinating and controversial.
In 1942, Onoda was drafted into the army and trained in guerrilla combat at the Futamata branch of the Nakano Military Academy. His training was inconsistent with the traditional Bushido "Battle Training" (Japanese Army Combat Manual), which forbade Japanese combatants from being captured and required them to fight to the death or to sacrifice themselves. But the order Onoda received when he was dispatched to Lubang in late 1944 was "no suicide allowed," as he wrote in his 1974 memoir, "No Surrender: My Thirty Years' War." "Under no circumstances can you voluntarily give up your life." In the final months of World War II, Hiroo Onoda (pictured in 1944) was stationed on Lubang Island
Onoda's mission was to destroy the Lubang airport and port one of the docks, as well as destroy any enemy aircraft and crew that attempt to land. The mission failed, and when the enemy took control of the island, he and his comrades retreated into the jungle. The war ended quickly, but on August 15, 1945, Onoda and three other comrades in arms saw the flyer of Japan surrendering , which they thought was the enemy's deception tactics, still hiding in the jungle, among snakes, worms, rats, ants , feeding on banana peels, coconuts and stolen rice. They were reluctant to surrender because of starvation, believing it was the enemy's trick.
Japanese search teams tried to find them, but Onoda believed they were enemy captives and was forced to lure them down. He saw pictures of family members and thought they were fakes too - Onoda didn't know his hometown was being rebuilt. During the 1950-53 Korean War , he heard the sound of planes flying over and thought it was a Japanese counter-offensive, and the newspapers thrown on the island were considered "Yankee propaganda". As early as 1959, Onoda wrote in his memoirs, he and his comrade Kinichi Kotsuka "had formed too many fixed ideas to understand anything that did not fit those ideas."
1945 Japan surrendered , but Onoda thought it was the enemy's deception tactics
In October 1972, Kozuka Kinichi was eventually shot and killed by local police, but Onoda remained alone on the island for another 18 months, until he met a man named Norio Suzuki. of eccentric Japanese explorers, the two sides came to an agreement. If Suzuki can bring Onoda's commander to Lupin and directly order him to lay down his arms, he will obey. Suzuki's mission was a success, and Onoda's war finally ended on March 9, 1974.
Endurance and illusionInspired by writers such as Louis Stevenson to make an "adventure" movie. But after learning about Onoda's story and reading Bernard Senlong and Gerard Chennu's 2020 book "Onoda: Battle in the Jungle", I decided to make a "documentary" about Onoda, his The family, as well as commanders Major Taniguchi and Norio Suzuki conduct interviews and visit Lupin - he realizes he has found the perfect source. "The whole story is fascinating," Harari told reporter culture. "It's impossible not to be moved by it." The details of
's "Onoda: Battle of the Jungle" are also restored in the movie, and the intimate experience- For example, the contradictions caused by the shortage of rice in the military camp and the New Year's ceremony are subtly intertwined with the scenes of violent conflict, and the military creed accepted by Onoda is flashed back at the military school. The real-life setting of Lubang Island, as well as the youthful and adult Onoda, played by Yuya Endo and Kanji Tsuda , make the film shine. The stunning wide-angle lens includes flowing creeks, verdant jungles and blooming purple flowers, and the tall palm trees on the beach are as evocative as the sounds of wind, rain and wild insects.
This is a fascinating tale of endurance and fantasy - the film won the Caesar Award for Best Original Screenplay in February 2022, as well as the Best Film Award from the French Society of Film Critics.
This photo was taken in 1974, and Onoda left the Lubang jungle where he had been hiding for nearly 30 years
Although the film was well-received, not everyone liked it. Sight & Sound magazine criticized Harari's portrayal of Onoda, arguing that it didn't make meaningful digs from the perspective of Filipino . James Latimer wrote in a review of the film shortly after the film's premiere at Cannes , "With nationalist sentiment on the rise again in Japan, making a film for a man who seems to fully display Japanese imperialist ambitions A film that is essentially praise is childish at best and insulting at worst, which shows that the Filipinos who show up are nothing more than insignificant victims." atrocity. These acts are conspicuously absent from his memoirs and relatively rarely mentioned in Harari's films. As many as 30 Lubang Islanders were reportedly killed, "not just gunshot wounds," filmmaker Mia Stewart told BBC Culture, but also horrific injuries "slashed with a knife or sword". Meanwhile, in Jonathan Heck's 2001 documentary "The Last Surrender" for BBC, a farmer named Fernando Poblet described the horrific sight of his discovery of the body of one of his fellow islanders: "The body Found in one place and head in another."
Harari admitted that he expected the film to be controversial. While he did not defend Onoda's actions, he did defend his creative approach. The film's principle, he said, is to "stand with (Onoda) like a member of his team" in order to understand the experience of a soldier who is "totally imprisoned" in his own perspective. (He contrasts the intrigue, denial and fanaticism around the world today, and the dangerous actions that come with it). Holding that opinion does not mean agreeing with Onoda, he said, noting that the film contains semi-fictional scenes where islanders are brutally murdered for Onoda's actions. "I'm trying to show that the violence experienced by (Filipinos) is outrageous, and there's no reason to argue against that... (but) in a way, it's very difficult to set the scene for the documentary," he said. And tricky, I tried to balance the two.”
Naoko Seri, an associate professor at at the University of Tokyo and author of Daisaku Onoda, praised the addition of these scenes, which she sees as an anti-hero interpretation of the character. "The film shows the fear and hatred that residents have for Onoda," she told Culture Channel. "(Although) these scenes don't match the hard truth, but they raise suspicion, disturb the public, and hopefully they will reflect on that."
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