Fires on the Plain (1959)
“Fires on the Plain” is a Japanese film that follows a group of Japanese soldiers in the last days of the second world war. They are weakened, starving, defeated, sick and helpless. These soldiers just want to live for a few hours longer. Unfortunately, they struggle to survive, and are hopeless that they will be ever rescued. The film mainly focuses on one character named Tamura, who is ordered to return to a military hospital or just kill himself. Tamura is unable to support himself and meets other soldiers, who can barely support themselves. They were in such bad shape and starved to the point of cannibalism. However, giving up was never an option to them. They would prefer to die than to give up. This film shows a different side of the war, the Japanese side.
The first scene in the film shows Tamura being slapped and yelled at by his leader. The leader is angry because Tamura returned to their base from the hospital. The scene is very tense and sad at the same time. Tamura looked sick, weak and starved in that scene and the camera shows it. Tamura’s leader is very angry, and his nerves are practically visible in his face in that scene. The camera shows both of their faces closely, showing their feelings through their facial expressions. The two soldiers have a long discussion, where the leader did most of the talking and yelling. His tone was serious, loud, and showed power. On the other hand, Tamura was quiet through the conversation, and seemed accepting of his fate. His struggle and sickness were obvious on the screen. No verbal expressions were needed.
When Tamura went back to the hospital, he was not allowed to stay in the hospital by the doctors. They would only let men who are dying to stay. Tamura then decides to stay with some other soldiers who are also unwanted in their own camps. Tamura is able to make friends with these individuals until the Americans begin bombing the area. In that scene, the viewers are able to see explosions, patients crawling to save their lives, and people dying. The camera shows how it happened and how everyone was trying to run into different ways, some of them even ran towards the camera. When Tamura finally escapes death, he continues his travels and eventually arrives in a small village where he kills a Filipino girl who would not stop screaming. He seemed as if he did not want to shoot her but did it impulsively. He also tries to kill the guy that came with her but failed to do so. Tamura then discovers a hidden cache of salt and takes it with him.
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Tamura meets some other soldiers, and he asks them to take him with them. In that scene, the camera shows him walking towards them. The viewers see from the soldier’s perspective as Tamura is approaching them. As they walk through the jungle, the camera slowly shows their surroundings. The viewers are able to see how thick, wet, sick, and dead the jungle is. Everything that surrounded them was dead. Bodies were everywhere, and the scene was just devastating to watch. Although the film was filled with desperation and a bit of insanity, the camera captures some funny scenes in the film. An example is where the viewers see a dead man lying face down in a pool of water, and a soldier walks by him and asks himself loudly if that is how they will all end up. Suddenly, the dead man lifts his head up and says” what was that.” That scene was funny and took the viewers’ attention away from the war for a moment. Another scene involves a man finding a pair of boots, where he takes them, and replaces them with his old ones. Then someone else comes and picks up those boots and leaves his behind. The scene continues until Tamura finds them and understands that both pairs are old.
The characters in this movie are all quite believable. Everyone we see in this film is skin and bones, covered in dirt and wearing clothes that are rack. Most elements helped show the effects of the war on those poor soldiers, and how desperate they were to survive. The viewers can see their pain through the camera work, that captured the unexpected bombing, and the dead bodies that were everywhere. There is one scene, where a lot of Japanese soldiers try to cross a road guarded by Yanks in the middle of the night, all crawling on their hands and knees as the camera followed from above. In that scene, they looked terrified. Another element was the sound of the bombs exploding, and the screaming. While watching this film, I could see fear through those characters eyes, and I believe that the camera captured their emotions, and struggles perfectly. Tamura’s character was quiet. Yet sickness, struggle, and his thinking of death were obvious and well shown through camera. In many scenes, he did not speak, but the viewers were able to hear his thoughts clearly. There was another scene that seemed very real, and it was when one of the soldiers killed his friend and ate the body. That scene shows the viewers that at that point it wasn’t about winning or losing the war anymore. Rather it was about surviving in any way possible.
In the end, “Fires on the Plain” shows a reality, and what people went through in the WWII. This film shows that war is equivalent to hell, especially when your allies are losing. I felt bad for these individuals, because they wanted to live, and they did everything they possibly could to survive. The characters in all their humanity, and their complete loss of humanity, are all believable. According to Terrence Rafferty, “Fires on the Plain is unique and irreducible: It takes us through unspeakable horrors to arrive at an unnamable beauty.”
References
http://www.cinescene.com/reviews/firesontheplain.htm
https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/797-fires-on-the-plain
http://www.cinescene.com/reviews/firesontheplain.htm
https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/797-fires-on-the-plain