Direction: Arthur Harari
Country: Japan / France / other
There’s a certain appeal in the mental confinement of a man devoted to his cause to the point of denying the obvious. The French filmmaker Arthur Harari (Dark Inclusion, 2016) magnificently captures the topic in his sophomore feature, Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle, by telling the true story of a tenacious Japanese soldier who lived in a permanent state of belligerency on a Filipino island for thirty years, after the second world war was over.
Eschewing any type of unnecessary flourish, this observant epic takes a heartbreaking look at a man’s spirit of duty, resistance, and ultimately delusion. Keen observation bleeds out of many scenes as we follow the incredulous soldier Hiroo Onoda (Yuya Endo / Kanji Tsuda), a man who never surrendered until ordered by the high-ranking official who had trained him, Major Taniguchi (Issey Ogata). Harari captures few battle scenes, almost conveying detached feelings when he does, as if not wanting them to overwhelm the deception and obstinacy of a soldier who fights an invisible war.
Unfolding with the enthrallment of some classics - directors Kon Ichikawa and Masaki Kobayashi are probably influences - the film is a seamless, nearly absurd, and pity-free account of a particular war episode that is, nevertheless, quite touching.
