This film can be hardly classified as a documentary, or if so, then a really poor sort of.
Despite the fact that the authors declared that their intention is not to make an anti-Japanese, but an anti-war film, what this one does is nothing but trying to shock the viewer with showing as much cruelty as possible within the limited time frame.
It does not try to search for reasons, why things ended up this way, or why the conquerors behaved the way they did. It does not show the consequences or the aftermath either. It simply accepts the fact that the Japanese were cruel themselves, tortured, killed and raped people, enjoyed slashing them with bayonets.
If the authors wanted to make an anti-war film, they should have at least mention that this cruelty is part of the basic human nature, and it is very hard to find any of the nations that upon conquering, had not done something of the sort in the past: e.g. what the Khmer Rouge, the Russians, or Mao did with even their own people, or the Nazis with the Jews, the British during the Boer wars, the Turks with Armenian holocaust, the list goes on and on.
Instead, the movie simply throws devilish Japanese acts to your face. I felt it just tries to stir up my hatred, in a very primitive way though it will surely work well with the masses.
Before you ask or assume: I am European, without any interest on defending Japanese war crimes.
Just simply: these sort of films do not help at all.
Despite the fact that the authors declared that their intention is not to make an anti-Japanese, but an anti-war film, what this one does is nothing but trying to shock the viewer with showing as much cruelty as possible within the limited time frame.
It does not try to search for reasons, why things ended up this way, or why the conquerors behaved the way they did. It does not show the consequences or the aftermath either. It simply accepts the fact that the Japanese were cruel themselves, tortured, killed and raped people, enjoyed slashing them with bayonets.
If the authors wanted to make an anti-war film, they should have at least mention that this cruelty is part of the basic human nature, and it is very hard to find any of the nations that upon conquering, had not done something of the sort in the past: e.g. what the Khmer Rouge, the Russians, or Mao did with even their own people, or the Nazis with the Jews, the British during the Boer wars, the Turks with Armenian holocaust, the list goes on and on.
Instead, the movie simply throws devilish Japanese acts to your face. I felt it just tries to stir up my hatred, in a very primitive way though it will surely work well with the masses.
Before you ask or assume: I am European, without any interest on defending Japanese war crimes.
Just simply: these sort of films do not help at all.