Period war movies are often subject to the internal focus of its set characters in the face of war in all its horrors. Ooka Shohei’s 1951 semi-biographical World War II novel, Nobi, proved useful as source material for Ichikawa Kon’s 1959 film adapation, Fires On The Plain, and multi-faced actor and director Tsukamoto Shinya‘s latest grisly reimagining has certainly allowed him to showcase his strengths, garnered its share of attention in the festival circuit within the past year.
In the final stages of WWII, the occupying Japanese army in the Philippines is rapidly losing ground, facing local resistance combined with an American offensive. The final few Japanese survivors, having almost been wiped out, have crossed the threshold into a realm where there are no friends, no enemies and no God.
