Fires on the Plain

Once again, Shin'ya Tsukamoto takes us on a journey into the darkest recesses of human nature. He is the second Japanese filmmaker (after Kon Ichikawa) to take on Shōhei Ōoka's book, a very powerful literary account of war. Japanese soldiers trapped in the hellish Philippine jungle have no idea that the end of the war is near. Every day, they fight for survival. They-their psyche, their instincts-are a greater enemy to themselves than their opponent in battle. Constantly confronted with the possibility of death, eaten alive by the trauma of war, they slowly lose any sheen of civilization. Audiences see this hell on earth through the eyes of a rank-and-file soldier named Tamura (Tsukamoto). Suffering from tuberculosis, he is too weak to be of any use to the army but too healthy to get treatment in the field hospital. His commanders send him into the jungle with only one order: if he does not get any better, he is to kill himself in honor of his country. In Fires on the Plain, horror combines with drama and the grotesque to form a penetrating anti-war anthem.