The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On

The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On
Film poster
Directed byKazuo Hara[1]
Produced bySachiko Kobayashi
StarringKenzō Okuzaki
CinematographyKazuo Hara
Edited byJun Nabeshima
Distributed byImamura Productions
Shisso Production
Zanzou-sha
Release date
  • 1 August 1987 (1987-08-01)
Running time
122 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Budget$222,000

The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (ゆきゆきて、神軍, Yuki Yukite Shingun) is a 1987 Japanese documentary film by director Kazuo Hara. The documentary centers on Kenzō Okuzaki, a 62-year-old veteran of Japan's campaign in New Guinea in the Second World War, and follows him around as he searches out those responsible for the unexplained deaths of two soldiers in his old unit.

Summary

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Okuzaki ultimately holds Emperor Shōwa accountable for all the suffering of the war ("I hate irresponsible people ... the most cowardly man in Japan, is the Emperor"). During his protests, he calls police "robots". He painstakingly tracks down former soldiers and officers, convincing them into telling him about the deaths, often abusing them verbally and at times physically in the process and causing one to bleed (at one point, Okuzaki states that "violence is my forte"). The people he talks to give different accounts of what transpired almost 40 years earlier, some saying that those killed were executed for desertion after the war was already over, while others state that they were shot for cannibalizing New Guinea indigenous people.

At the end of the war, the Japanese garrison in New Guinea was crammed into a small area and almost completely cut off from food supplies, leading to starvation and eventually to cannibalism. According to confessions, indigenous people were euphemistically called "black pigs" while Allied soldiers were "white pigs"—although one of the interviewed says there was a ban on eating "white pigs". The sister of one of the executed at one point states her belief that the two (low-ranking privates) were killed so that the officers would have something to eat.

During the course of Okuzaki's investigation a captain named Koshimizu is said to have issued the order to execute the pair, with a couple of the interviewed also stating that he personally finished them off with his pistol after the firing squad failed to kill them outright, something the captain denies.

Okuzaki also discovers that there has been another suspicious death in his unit and seeks out a former sergeant who is the sole survivor of his regiment. After much coaxing and a physical altercation, the sergeant tells him that he personally killed a fellow soldier who had been stealing food and that the corpse was then eaten. He also states that the indigenous were not cannibalized as they were too quick to catch. Instead, Japanese soldiers were marked for death and cannibalized ("the immoral and selfish ones" first). The sergeant states that he only survived because he could make himself useful as a jungle guide, for instance finding fresh water for the other soldiers.

A title card states that the documentary crew and Okuzaki traveled to New Guinea but that the footage was confiscated by the Indonesian government.

An epilogue shows pictures of newspaper headlines where it is revealed that Okuzaki attempted to kill Koshimizu, whom he holds responsible for the deaths of the two soldiers. Not finding him at home Okuzaki settled for shooting Koshimizu's son, who was seriously wounded. It is then stated that Okuzaki was sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for attempted murder.

One of the methods of Okuzaki, as seen in the film, was to paint his car and home with political messages. Here is a picture of his carport.

Awards and reception

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The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On won numerous awards:

The film was highly praised by other documentary filmmakers. Errol Morris listed it as one of his top 5 favorite films for Rotten Tomatoes,[3] while Mark Cousins credited it with reviving his own film-making.[4]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Infobox data from Yuki Yukite shingun (1987) at IMDb and ゆきゆきて、神軍 (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 16 January 2008.
  2. ^ Awards based on "Awards for Yuki Yukite shingun (1987)" (in Korean). IMDb. Retrieved 14 January 2008.
  3. ^ "Five Favorite Films with Errol Morris // Current". Archived from the original on 6 August 2009. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
  4. ^ Cousins, Mark (22 February 2024). "In LA, directors have clubbed together to save a landmark cinema. Why don't Brits do the same?". The Guardian.
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