SYNOPSICS
Taiheiyou no kiseki: Fokkusu to yobareta otoko (2011) is a Japanese,English movie. Cellin Gluck,Hideyuki Hirayama has directed this movie. Yutaka Takenouchi,Sean McGowan,Mao Inoue,Treat Williams are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2011. Taiheiyou no kiseki: Fokkusu to yobareta otoko (2011) is considered one of the best Drama,War movie in India and around the world.
July 1944, The Imperial Japanese Army Garrison on Saipan mounted its final suicidal Banzai charge against the American Marines in the Battle for Saipan. Out of the 4000 Japanese who waged the charge there are almost no survivors but among them left alive is Captain Oba Sakae (Yutaka Takenouchi). Playing dead, he initially avoids capture and then is joined by a small band of survivors who retreat deep into the jungle. There, he as the highest ranking officer still alive will take command of the surviving 46 soldiers and 200 plus Japanese civilians now in his care who will evade the Marines and conduct a hit and run Guerrilla War long after the Americans declare the island secured in American hands. Enraged by Oba's resistance, the temperamental USMC Commander Colonel Pollard (Daniel Baldwin) launches an all out effort to hunt the man the Marines have dubbed "The Fox" of the Pacific. Failing to Capture Oba, Pollard is sacked and replaced by the mild mannered Colonel Wessinger (Treat ...
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Taiheiyou no kiseki: Fokkusu to yobareta otoko (2011) Reviews
Interesting movie
Interesting movie, with a new perspective on the war. Decent acting all around, and at least the American actors (led by Baldwin) weren't people they grabbed off the street, which is typical with Asian movies starring "white" people. I do have to take issue with one of the reviewers, though, who seems clueless about the movie's pedigree. @Shin Obi, This is not a "Hollywood" movie, genius. This was a Japanese movie. Japanese made. Japanese produced. Japanese directed. And shown almost exclusively in Japan. The fact that you seem to think it's some kind of "American propaganda" only means it treated the story FAIRLY, but for you, that only meant it was unreasonable. That says more about you than the movie, to be honest.
The struggle between Honour and Reason
This is a film which tries to find balance between both stories, Japanese and American. It shows the brutality of war, and that there is good and bad on both sides. The film strives to portray the story of a man, Captain Sakae Oba, caught between honour and reason and his battle to find a course which satisfies both. The film is superbly shot, especially the wide-angle panoramas and action. As with most movies the guns fire with too much flame, the explosions are too small to be accurate, and people die too easily and without the screams and gore that accompanies true war. If it's action you seek, then another movie would probably suit you better. If you are an intelligent unbiased person who wishes to know about one of the more surprising stories of the Pacific war, then this film is a must. It glosses over some of the more salient points of the real story of Oba and his actions, such as time frame, but is a good account of the framework. On the whole it is a very good watch, and a fine film.
Leadership
This movie portrays an episode at the Pacific theater of the World War II, without over dramatization. The battle of Saipan is said to be the decisive battle of the Pacific theater. After Japan lost most of the island, a captain found himself the highest ranked officer among Japanese soldiers that survived. His behaviors, struggles and decisions form the plot of the movie. It is interesting that he was not a career military man, but a teacher of geography. Besides the lead character, Captain Oba, a tattooed man Horiuchi and a nurse Aono accent the movie. Another unique character is an American captain Luis, but his acting is mean compared to other three. You can see this movie as food for thought about leadership. Oba's leadership is not like the one President Mandela in Invictus showed - very strong, indomitable leadership led by high ideas. In far outnumbered circumstances, with little reliable information from outside, and without anyone to consult with, he makes his decision, which turned out right in many cases. But he can not persuade some of subordinates who stubbornly refuse to surrender and stick to hopeless fight. At first, Oba was to attack the US back, but he flexibly changed his mind that his mission is no longer to attack but to defend the civilian survivors. Now I will not write more to keep this article from a spoiler. Anyhow, corporate senior managers would feel strong empathy with Captain Oba.
A Highly Recommended (and Underrated) WWII Movie
I do not usually write reviews on IMDb.com, but after viewing this movie (and especially after seeing its rating on IMDb), I've decided to take the proverbial plunge.... "Oba: the Last Samurai" is based on the true story of Captain Sakae Oba, who fought during the Battle of Saipan in the 18th Imperial Japanese Army Regiment. After surviving the brutal "Banzai Charge" of July 7 (in which U.S. Army and Marine units fought against nearly 5,000 Japanese soldiers in pitched hand-to-hand combat), Captain Oba retreated into the mountainous interior of Saipan with 46 other Japanese soldiers and nearly 200 Japanese civilians. As the movie eloquently depicts, Oba waged a remarkably successful guerrilla campaign against the U.S. troops stationed on Saipan (for which he earned the nickname "The Fox"). As the movie also depicts, Captain Oba battled not only against the Americans but also against starvation, disease, and the overwhelming emotional chaos of war. Finally, on December 1st 1945, Captain Oba and his surviving men surrendered to the U.S. military. Oba was repatriated to Japan, where his memorable struggle on Saipan was later turned into a popular novel. Like any historically based film, "Oba" contains its share of historical inaccuracies and dramatizations. In particular, the Korean, Okinawan, and especially native Chamoru civilians who were also present on Saipan (and who suffered just as terribly as the Japanese civilians) are virtually ignored in this film. But in comparison to other WWII films (and especially to "Windtalkers," another WWII film set during the Battle of Saipan), "Oba" successfully depicts the desperate fighting that occurred on the island from both the American AND Japanese perspectives. In summary, I highly recommend "Oba: the Last Samurai" for anyone who is interested in the Battle of Saipan or the Pacific War. This movie comes as close as almost any other movie or TV series I have seen (American or Japanese) to capturing the sheer brutality of the fighting between the American and Japanese forces in the Pacific. And it deserves a much higher rating than the 6.2 average it currently holds on IMDb.com.
Pretty Good movie
The English dialog was not very good, but the story was worth telling, and it is a good war story told from the Japanese perspective. The Japanese actors, and cast all did a superb job, and the American cast did an adequate job. It is refreshing to see a realistic look at the war from the Japanese side. The movie told the story of the Japanese people on the island, both soldiers and civilians, and it explained their attitude about the war. The scenery is great, and if the story does not show an American defeat, at lest it shows an American struggle. It also captures the moment of the Japan's surrender, showing that it was not as instantaneousness as some historians lead to believe. Overall, it was a story about a Japanese hero fighting for survival, and a group of Americans fighting because it's their job.