The Eternal Zero 2013
The Eternal Zero (永遠の0 Eien no Zero) is a 2013 Japanese war drama film directed by Takashi Yamazaki and based on a novel by Naoki Hyakuta
A brother and sister learn their biological grandfather was a kamikaze pilot who died during World War II. During their research into his life, they get conflicting accounts from his former comrades about his character and how he joined his squadron.
Synopsis:
In an unspecified attack near the end of the Pacific War, a Zero fighter plane threatens the United States Pacific Fleet by cutting through its defensive anti-aircraft fire. Kyuzo Miyabe, the pilot of the Zero fighter is regarded by his comrades as a coward, though an exceptionally skilled fighter pilot, for consistently returning alive from missions, openly explaining "I don't want to die," the result of a promise made to his wife Matsuno and daughter Kiyoko: to return from the war alive.
The Eternal Zero (永遠の0 Eien no Zero) is a 2013 Japanese war drama film directed by Takashi Yamazaki and based on a novel by Naoki Hyakuta
A brother and sister learn their biological grandfather was a kamikaze pilot who died during World War II. During their research into his life, they get conflicting accounts from his former comrades about his character and how he joined his squadron.
Synopsis:
In an unspecified attack near the end of the Pacific War, a Zero fighter plane threatens the United States Pacific Fleet by cutting through its defensive anti-aircraft fire. Kyuzo Miyabe, the pilot of the Zero fighter is regarded by his comrades as a coward, though an exceptionally skilled fighter pilot, for consistently returning alive from missions, openly explaining "I don't want to die," the result of a promise made to his wife Matsuno and daughter Kiyoko: to return from the war alive.
In 2004, twenty-six-year-old Kentaro Oishi has repeatedly failed the national bar examination and is uncertain about his future. One day, after the funeral of his grandmother, Matsuno, he is startled to learn from his mother and older sister Keiko that his maternal grandfather Kenichiro was not his blood-relation. Keiko and Kentaro start hearing stories about their real grandfather, Kyuzo Miyabe and visit many of his former comrades all of whom begin by criticize his "timidity" in battle. Kentaro finally learns the reason why Miyabe became a Kamikaze pilot during the conversation with an old comrade of his grandfather called Izaki, who is in hospital dying of cancer. Izaki talks about his relationship with their grandfather to Keiko and Kentaro, claiming that only the "timid" Miyabe gave him the hope to save his own life after he was shot down over the ocean.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy advances steadily, only to be steadily beaten hollow in the battles from Battle of Midway and Bombing on Rabaul onwards. Despite the rising desperation and hopelessness of their situation, all of Miyabe's men say they wish to die gloriously in battle. However, he persuades them, by his simple and honest example (Miyabe accepts severe beatings by outraged senior officers several times for speaking these opinions, and refuses to retract them), that to survive is worthwhile.
Cast:
Junichi Okada as Kyuzo Miyabe
Haruma Miura as Kentaro Saeki
Mao Inoue as Matsuno Miyabe, later Matsuno Oishi
7.2/10 - IMDb
Featured Review:
Staggering aerial combat footage and a wrenching human story distinguish this otherwise politically confused drama about kamikaze pilots.
A fictional account of a Japanese WWII pilot that features the most breathtaking images of aviation seen in an Asian war film since South Korea’s “Soar Into the Skies” (2010), “The Eternal Zero” marks another vfx victory for helmer Takashi Yamazaki, here surpassing the technical sorcery of his “Space Battleship Yamato” while delivering an elegantly crafted human drama. One of Japan’s 10 biggest hits of all time (having bagged $82.7 million to date), the eight-week B.O. champion cloaks its nationalistic message in an emotionally wrenching story that sweeps the viewer right along — but cops out in the finale, with a glorification of kamikaze missions that contradicts its initial criticism of blind patriotism. While Koreans and mainland Chinese may take issue with the film’s ideology, its crackling action scenes rep a selling point in other overseas markets, even if its mammoth length presents a challenge for theatrical release.
- Maggie Lee Chief Asia Film Critic for Variety
After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy advances steadily, only to be steadily beaten hollow in the battles from Battle of Midway and Bombing on Rabaul onwards. Despite the rising desperation and hopelessness of their situation, all of Miyabe's men say they wish to die gloriously in battle. However, he persuades them, by his simple and honest example (Miyabe accepts severe beatings by outraged senior officers several times for speaking these opinions, and refuses to retract them), that to survive is worthwhile.
Cast:
Junichi Okada as Kyuzo Miyabe
Haruma Miura as Kentaro Saeki
Mao Inoue as Matsuno Miyabe, later Matsuno Oishi
7.2/10 - IMDb
Featured Review:
Staggering aerial combat footage and a wrenching human story distinguish this otherwise politically confused drama about kamikaze pilots.
A fictional account of a Japanese WWII pilot that features the most breathtaking images of aviation seen in an Asian war film since South Korea’s “Soar Into the Skies” (2010), “The Eternal Zero” marks another vfx victory for helmer Takashi Yamazaki, here surpassing the technical sorcery of his “Space Battleship Yamato” while delivering an elegantly crafted human drama. One of Japan’s 10 biggest hits of all time (having bagged $82.7 million to date), the eight-week B.O. champion cloaks its nationalistic message in an emotionally wrenching story that sweeps the viewer right along — but cops out in the finale, with a glorification of kamikaze missions that contradicts its initial criticism of blind patriotism. While Koreans and mainland Chinese may take issue with the film’s ideology, its crackling action scenes rep a selling point in other overseas markets, even if its mammoth length presents a challenge for theatrical release.
- Maggie Lee Chief Asia Film Critic for Variety