Product Details

• Actors: Kinya Kitaoji, Bunta Sugawara, Koji Tsuruta, Tsunehiko Watase, Akira Kobayashi
• Directors: Kosaku Yamashita
• Format: Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Japanese
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Animeigo
• DVD Release Date: January 13, 2009
• Run Time: 199 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001HM2CEW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #168,631 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

FATHER OF THE KAMIKAZE - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Divine wind, February 26, 2009

By 

Zack Davisson "japanreviewed" (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Father of the Kamikaze (DVD)

I couldn't help but compare "Father of the Kamikaze" with the 2007 film "I Go to Die for You" ("Ore wa, kimi no tame ni koso, shi ni iku"). What a difference distance makes. In the 2007 film, the kamikaze pilots are allowed to be figures of romance, of heroism, and all sorts of movie tropes. In 1974's "Father of the Kamikaze", there is only harsh reality.

I have seen few films that attempt to capture historical reality on the same level as "Father of the Kamikaze". Not only in the accuracy of the story, but in the use of actual war footage whenever possible. Those are not special effects that you are seeing. Those are actual human-piloted airplanes smashing into actual human-staffed warships. The loss of life depicted in this film is staggering.

At the base level, "Father of the Kamikaze" tells the story of Onishi Takijiro, a Vice Admiral of the Japanese navy. No war-monger, Onishi actually opposed the attack on Pearl Harbor, foreseeing that it would launch Japan into a full-scale war with the US, a war they could never win. He also was opposed to the use of suicide attacks in warfare, until he was backed into a corner. In charge of the defense of the Philippines during Operation Sho, he had no choice but to order the attacks, which were highly successful and the beginning of Japan's "Special Attack Units". The film then follows the consequences of Onishi's actions, with vignettes of the lives of kamikaze pilots, to the behind-the-scenes high level debates about their deployment. Onishi, who was against the war to begin with, becomes adamant that Japan must not lose, and tries to play psychological games with the US, throwing wave-after-wave of suicide attackers, in the hopes that the US will be horrified enough to at least call the war a draw.

This is an epic film, clocking in at over three hours long. Due to its nature, it is almost better to call it a documentary than a film. It seeks to educate much more than entertain. Director Yamashiita Kosaku does give the viewer enough drama to keep the story moving, but he also makes sure that all sides are represented, and the true nature of the men behind the Special Attack Forces is known. It is far too easy to sit in relative luxury and order men to their deaths, talking about ideals and country while taking none of the actual risks or suffering yourself.

Playing Onishi is Tsuruta Koji, who was Mifune Toshiro's main rival at the time. He had made an earlier kamikaze flick back in 1963, "Taiheiyo no tsubasa". Also on board is Sugawara Bunka, who is a familiar face as the star of the epic Battles Without Honor & Humanity. They both do a fantastic job, finding the nuance in their characters, and balancing the audience's sympathy and disgust. Tsuruta particularly shines in the final scene where, as in real life, Onishi commits ritual suicide, but refuses a "second" to chop off his head and end his suffering. Onishi felt he should atone for the deaths he cause by feeling every minute of his painful death. He died over a period of 15 hours.

The only real drawback to "Father of the Kamikaze" is its length. That is a long history lesson, and the three hours can be hard to slog through. But at the end, it is a rewarding journey. Also, the special effects were overly ambitious for the time. The combination of actual war footage juxtaposed with model work can come off as a bit silly, and more than once I was reminded of scenes in Godzilla.

As usual, Animeigo put together a super package with this release. As a special feature, there is a clickable map that lets you study some of the details of the scenes involved, and their role in the war. The DVD liner notes are a small history lesson on the historical figures you will see, and some of the terms involved. All in all a brilliant presentation.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Historical Drama but too long., July 5, 2010

By 

Laird M. Wilcox "Nitewriter" (Kansas, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Father of the Kamikaze (DVD)

This is a very long movie that tells a fairly simple story that could have used some better editing. Three hours and 19 minutes is a lot and the length could easily have been cut by a third. The characters were generally well-acted, in some cases a bit over-acted, and the story is interesting to World War II history buffs. The special effects were not up to today's standards (air combat scenes clearly done with models) and there were a few mistakes (like sandbags obviously stuffed with straw), but otherwise the sets were realistic and believable.

A point that is well-illustrated in this movie is the fanaticism of Japanese militarists. Reality doesn't seem to mean much to these guys, and they seem to be imbued with a kind of mad-dog, hyper-nationalistic fatalism. Everything was a matter of honor. Not all Japanese officers were like this, but enough that the war kept going much longer than it should have. The individual kamikaze pilots seemed over-enthusiastic, like they could hardly wait to die for their country. This would have been entirely out of character for American pilots, although I'm sure there would have been a few individual exceptions.

The decision to go kamikaze was an agonizing one for some of the Japanese leadership and the movie shows it, but it was becoming obvious that it was their last hope to convince the Americans that continuing the war would be too costly, especially if they attempted an invasion of the home islands. Had the kamikaze attacks continued, however, it's possible that the Americans would have settled for a negotiated peace. Although it's not discussed in this film, the kamikazes were very effective and their design and lethality gradually improved. Had they been used earlier, it could have changed the outcome of several battles. Late in the war the Americans became better at shooting them down.

If you collect material in this area it's worth having. For entertainment value, it's not that interesting.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Historical drama based on creation of Kamikaze., June 18, 2010

By 

N. Hyre - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Father of the Kamikaze (DVD)

This movie is a well written reinacted chronology of the development of the Japanese Kamikaze deployment. Although it is somewhat aged, the flying scences and drama are realistic. For WWII buffs, this should be on the "need to have" list.