When this strange documentary begins, the viewer is left very confused because the context for what is occurring is missing. This is an odd way of doing this film, but so be it. After a while, you learn that Kenzo Okuzaki is angry--angry at the emperor and others...but why? Then, you slowly learn that it's about some atrocities that occurred in New Guinea during WWII. And, eventually you learn the story-- several Japanese soldiers were executed on trumped up charges and Okuzaki thinks it was to provide meat to the rest of the starving soldiers in his regiment! Yet, in the Japanese push to bury the past horrors of the regime, no one is sure what happened and the dogged Okuzaki is determined to track down all the surviving folks who can substantiate what happened and MAKE them talk. If that means beating the snot out of them or publicly shaming them, so be it-- as Okuzaki doesn't seem to care what might happen to him in the process! Okuzaki isn't alone in his quest, as a couple family members of the executed men accompany him. Additionally, a camera crew stands there and refuses to get involved when Okuzaki attacks folks or is attacked in turn! What's next? See the film.
This is an odd sort of film--sort of guerrilla style with Okuzaki and his friends surprising the folks that they want to question, as they just showed up and the film crew started filming! Normally, I would feel sorry for anyone who is set upon by a film crew like this, but the folks WERE war criminals! An interesting film and one that attempts to force the Japanese to finally acknowledge SOME of the WWII war crimes--so it is a very important film for fans of documentaries. But, its style is difficult to follow for some viewers, it's a bit overlong (and loses some of its punch because of this) and a prologue explaining everything would have been appreciated.
This is an odd sort of film--sort of guerrilla style with Okuzaki and his friends surprising the folks that they want to question, as they just showed up and the film crew started filming! Normally, I would feel sorry for anyone who is set upon by a film crew like this, but the folks WERE war criminals! An interesting film and one that attempts to force the Japanese to finally acknowledge SOME of the WWII war crimes--so it is a very important film for fans of documentaries. But, its style is difficult to follow for some viewers, it's a bit overlong (and loses some of its punch because of this) and a prologue explaining everything would have been appreciated.