Thursday, June 2, 2016

Tora Tora Tora


This past Monday was Memorial Day here in the US, where we honor those who have fallen in battle. As part of our family observation, we watched the movie "Tora!Tora! Tora!", which is a joint US/Japan production. To my knowledge, this is the only movie of this type, and it presents the events leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor from both sides.

One of the things that show just how good this movie is, is the even knowing what the final outcome really is, I found myself routing for a peaceful solution throughout the movie. The entire cast is great and they really make you appreciate what everyone went through. This is especially true of Admiral Yamamoto, played by Sô Yamamura, who knew that war with the US was the last thing that Japan needed. It was Yamamoto who said the now famous quote, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

What I really like about this movie, though, is that they didn't feel the need to add extraneous plots. Oh, there are scenes of people in their private lives, but that's all in service to the story of the events leading up to, and during, the attack itself. There wasn't any tacked on love story, for example, just a balanced look at the historical events.

If anyone reading this hasn't seen the film, I would highly recommend that you watch it. It's availible for free streaming to Amazon Prime members.


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3 comments:

  1. Not to mention that the aircraft footage (in addition to the archive footage) has been used over and over again in TV and movies since that time.

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    1. It's so well done, it'd be a shame if it didn't get reused. :)

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    2. It's so well done, it'd be a shame if it didn't get reused. :)

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