Japan WWII Movies

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

The movie I mentioned last night is a documentary made by BBC and is called Hiroshima. There are clips on youtube if you want to check it out. Stan recommended it to me a few years ago and I show clips of it, not the whole thing, although it is all interesting. My 10th graders are always in awe when I show it.

Please recommend any other good movies or documentaries on the Japanese: pre-WWII, WWII and/or post-WWII.

[Anonymous]

Hiroshima is something that always called my attention but never really explored. Now that you mention clips on youtube, I will take some time to watch. Thanks for your recommendation.

[Anonymous]

One movie I saw, and I'm not sure if it's directly related to WWII times, is Stray Dog by Akira Kurosawa. But another great animation set during the war times that I highly recommend is called the Grave of the Fireflies--a very poignant and vivid account of war and the aftermath of a country having to pick itself up and rebuild again. A viewed it to show my elementary students but felt that it was more appropriate for older students, due to its graphic nature and the intensity of subject. I would also like to hear from others who have used this film in their class and how it was received by the students. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

To this list of films I would add "Hiroshima, Mon Amour" a French film by Resnais which uses for its beginning actual footage from the recently-bombed Hiroshima. The Film deals with the necessity of coming to terms with the past.
Another VERY interesting film is "Mishima". It is a film done in Japanese, with an English side translation. It parallels the life, and death, of Mishima. The director, Paul Schrader, considers it the best film he has ever directed.

[Anonymous]

Two of the movies that were suggested in class were Rhapsody of August and Grave of the Firefly.

Last year in my U.S. history class I realized to late that I had misplaced my copy of Letters from Iwo Jima. I wish I had discovered that earlier because this film is amazing. It shows the war in the Pacific from the point of view of Americans and Japanese, all relating back to the letters that they are writing to their loved ones. Check out the synopsis on IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498380/

The movie I ended up showing instead was Flags of Our Fathers, which chronicles the lives of 3 soldiers and their experience in the war and after the war. I like it because students get to see the violence and are introduced to the horrors of the war in the Pacific. The movie chronicles one Native American soldier and allows us to see the discrimination that Native Americans still faced in the 1940's. The main story though that the film is talking to the viewer is about how the flag was raised on Iwo Jima. Here is the synopsis on IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418689/

These are the only films I show depicting war in the Pacific. I usually make sure to show Night and Fog, which is only 30 minutes, but makes an impression on the students about the significance and horror of the Holocaust.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_and_Fog_%28film%29

[Anonymous]

Response to Sbartiask:

I watched "Hiroshima, Mon Amour" as a teenager and did not understand it at the time. There were many symbolism and imagery that was used for foreshadowing of certain ideologies. I remember asking myself why the director uses so many "shadows" and dark/light effects throughout the film. Having watched it since, of course it has to do with WWII and the effects/travesties of war. It also deals with interracial relationships dynamics and the idea of being an upright citizen.

This film's artistic expression reminds me a lot of Mezoguchi Kenji films

[Anonymous]

I also remember the book "A Thousand Paper Cranes" from when I was in Elementary School. After checking out IMDB I found that they made several movies from the book. I would say that's definitely worth checking out, especially if the curriculum still dictates that students be aware of the film (or at least the oragami as an art form).

[Anonymous]

To madams:

A few years ago, I had my students make 1000 paper cranes for a cause and it was a moving experience. The inspiration came from a combination of reading the book, loving origami, and having spoken to students in Japan and Korea who have made paper cranes for worthy causes. It was amazing to see how dedicated and committed the students were in executing the goal--they spent their recess/lunch breaks/weekends folding the tiny papers into lovely birds!

As an elementary 2/3 grade educator, I am constantly amazed at the capabilities of students at that age and how philanthropically minded they can be. I usually get 100% buy-in from my students when it comes to helping others and as of now, we are working on raising money for Haiti. I can't wait to see what will come out of this endeavor.

[Anonymous]

I to remember reading the book "A Thousand Paper Cranes." I remember that we spent so much time make a paper crane. I still have it!

[Edit by="jbrusa on Feb 2, 6:15:14 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

This weekend I watched Pearl Harbor and I am not going to lie it made me sad and mad! Sad that so many men and women were killed and mad because Japan attacked us when there were suppose to be helping us.

[Anonymous]

Wow! I just checked all your reponses and thanks so much! This is awesome and I hope to try a few of your recommendations out when I do WWII later this year. I need to check the ratings on some of them and maybe edit to see if I can show maybe some clips here or there. I don't have much time to show full-length movies...wish I did.

In response to the last post, Pearl Harbor was a terrible loss of life for our military men. I'm not sure what you meant that the Japanese were supposed to be helping us. I know they were still meeting with us, but they were pretty angry about our trade embargos, etc.

I sometimes show about a 20 min. clip of the movie Pearl Harbor, just the attack on the ships and the airfield, but I have to skip the love triangle stuff--it's trully awful! And it was a huge mistake on our part to park so much of our fleet in one place--a tragic, strategic mistake that has never been repeated, by the way.

Before he died, I asked my grandfather who was career U.S. navy, and was stationed at Subic Naval Base in the P.I. when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, why America dropped atomic bombs on civilians in Japan (still a controversial issue discussed by many today, of course). His response was immediate and angry, "And what about Pearl Harbor?!" Of course we could have argued forever, but to his credit, he went back to the Philippines after WWII ended, and saw the devastating effects and heard the 1st hand accounts of the atrocities committed there by the Japanese. My grandmother was Filipina and some of her relatives had gotten stuck there and suffered greatly, including my great-uncle who was in the Bataan Death March.

Anyway, back to the movie selections....thanks to all of you who responded.

[Anonymous]

I will check out your recommendation of BBC Hirosima, thanks. You're right, the Bataan Death March was pure hell, and my class does discuss this topic in my world history class.

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