Army (Rikugun)
Directed by Keisuke Kinoshita
Shôhei Hino and Tadao Ikeda
1944/Japan
Shochiku Ofuna
First viewing/Hulu Plus

[box] “Summer grasses,

All that remains

Of soldiers’ dreams”

― Matsuo Bashō[/box]

A film about soldiers without killing, a film about war without fighting, and propaganda undercut by the most profound sadness.

The Takagis have an ancient history as warriors.  However, starting with the Russo-Japanese war, its soldiers have not seen combat for one reason or another.  Tomosuke Takagi (Chishu Ryu) was too sick to see action.  He is determined that his son Tomonogo will redeem the family honor.  The boy has the teachings of the Emperor (basically the samurai code of bushido) drummed into him since childhood.  Initially, however, the boy is a gentle child with rather effeminate traits.  He is the despair of his father and his mother Waka (Kinuyu Tanaka, Oharu, Ugetsu, Sansho the Baliff),  Eventually his parent’s careful training results in a fine young man who distinguishes himself in the army.  When he finally goes to war, his mother declines to see him off, saying she has already given him to the emperor.

Then a remarkable thing happens.  After an hour of propaganda stressing the nobility of war, the duty of Japan’s warriors and people, evil of the Americans, British, and Chinese, and the glory of dying on the field of battle, the mood suddenly shifts.  Waka cannot resist getting one final glimpse of her boy,  We follow Waka as she struggles with her emotions and then takes off running in search of her son among the great mass of marching soldiers.  This is a lovely long wordless tracking shot and heartbreakingly acted.  It is worth watching the movie just for this beautiful sequence.

Clip (final sequence – music not in original)