Yogi's Movie Consumption Blog

A young war hero gets five days of leave to visit his mother in his home village but gets sidetracked by the people he meets on the journey. The film is profoundly moving and once the slightly pathetic tone of the story is set firm it becomes the highly emotional journey that will leave every viewer in tears. It's heart-wrenching when the two lovers realize that they truly have found each other the moment they have to separate, possibly forever. The naiveté and stubbornness of the protagonist is illustrated by many small stories in the beginning: his willingness to give up his material goods for his new-found friends, his support for the crippled, the elderly and his dedication to at least hug his mother one last time. It's also his youth that makes him ignore the terrible facts of war - and although people around him die off like flies he seems oblivious to any kind of danger. When the voice-over concludes that we have lost a human being who might have been remarkable...

A sick Japanese soldier is dismissed from his unit during the war on the Philippines and tries to reach the point of evacuation on his own. As the naive soldier Takamura tries to find his way out of the jungle and back to his fellow militaries he encounters a number of increasingly inhumane men.  He seems to be highly suspicious of the locals, but entrusts his nasty comrades with his life. Very quickly the subject of cannibalism emerges in conversations between the hungry soldier. The Americans, who have more or less won the war are depicted as an anonymous force. There is much speculation if they are benign to POWs or would simply slaughter them. Our poor hero witnesses a botched attempt of a surrender and decides to proceed on his own. When he descends into the bottomless swamp of savage-like soldiers-turned-zombies he tries to hold on to his last remains of human dignity. His journey is also a spiritual one, as in his naivete he strongly believes that the Fires on t...