Review of Army

Army (1944)
Not Great But Very Important
22 June 2013
The Japanese film "Rikugun" (The Army) was produced by the Japanese army during the World War II. As a propaganda film, this film must have been pro-army, pro-war. However, a young director Keisuke Kinoshita tried to include an anti-war message in the film despite of censorship. The mother (played by Kinuyo Tanaka) was trying to find his son in army marching in the last scene. It lasts 7, 8 minutes and the film ends with her close-up. The scene is overwhelming. The film was not appreciated by the army and Kinoshita could not direct the next film at the time. He directed the next film after WWII. The films is not great, but very important. Recently, "Dawn of a Filmmaker: The Keisuke Kinoshita Story" was released in Japan. We see how he comes back to direct films. We also see the last scene of "Rikugun" in this biographic film.
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