Instant Favorite.

An action-packed slog

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The atrocities described are horrific, but they are told by only 14 soldiers who spent 11 years in Soviet and Chinese prison camps before "confessing" to their war crimes. I know that people behave atrociously during war, but I was skeptical of these particular accounts from the beginning of the film.There are only 14 men, who can't possibly be representative of the entire Japanese army. And even though they seem to believe their own stories, the stories are too well rehearsed. These 14 men all confessed after spending 11 years in prison camps. Go to The Innocence Project and read about false confessions. They happen more often and more easily than we'd like to think. Also, there are no accounts of soldiers who DID NOT spend any time in Chinese prison camps. These soldiers were singing Internationale when they got off the boat from prison camp. The footage and description of the Chinese prison camp SCREAMED propaganda. The civil-warring Chinese were brutal even with each other, so it's totally incredible that they would have been saints to the Japanese prisoners.It's unfortunate because I know that war is evil and that soldiers do commit atrocities. I think the world needs to see and acknowledge the evil. I desperately want that message to get out. But truth should always be paramount to propaganda, especially in a "documentary."

I saw this film at the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival.The film was almost three hours long, but compelling all the way through. This documentary features the confessions of 14 Japanese soldiers, detailing their atrocities against the Chinese in the war that Japan waged for most of the thirties and forties. At times hard to listen to, it was nonetheless an exercise in bravery for these men to speak out when the overwhelming majority of soldiers did not. A deeply difficult film to get made and shown in Japan. (8/10)

This is a documentary about the war crimes that Japanese soldiers did during the invasion in the second world war. I expected that this film will have some historical footage, showing what the soldiers did in the invasion. However, the film did not have any historical footage, it only contained the confessions of the soldiers.The Japanese government has constantly denied that they have done anything wrong during the invasion, and even denying that they invaded China and other countries in Asia. I think this documentary is very valuable. Throughout the whole documentary, it contained the confessions of many soldiers who killed and raped civilians. They looted villages, and burned all houses they saw. They had competitions about how many Chinese people they killed each day. All the things were very horrible, and they regretted and repented that they committed such crimes.The soldiers confessed their crimes because they could not live with their conscience. Some of them had nightmares during their sleep. Others want to teach the younger generation what war is really like. War is not glorious, it is a beastly event. Every soldier had to lose their mind and become cruel. The soldiers hope that, by teaching the younger people about wars, there will not be anymore invasions by Japan in the future.One very important thing about this film that many spectators did not like is its length. It is nearly three hours long. Three hours of pure talking is very dull and boring, even though the things they are saying are very important. A lot of people left in the middle of the film. As I previously mentioned, the film did not have any historical footage. All the crimes were described in words by the soldiers. Without some graphical help, it is a bit difficult to imagine what it was really like. I suggest that the film can add some reconstructions of the crimes, so that the messages can be brought to the spectators more vividly and effectively.

This is a MUST SEE. Japanese director Minoru Matsui should be praised for releasing a 'confessions of ex-WW2 Japanese soldiers'. This is a very sensitive issue in Japan today due to their many living in denial of their crimes. These ex-soldiers confessed of their indiscriminate murders, rapes, plunders, tortures and so on. Basically the most horrific of crimes against humanity unimaginable. You have to see this to believe it. The average Japanese soldier would make Joseph Mengele look like Mother Theresa. The average Japanese soldier would make any Nazi T4 personnel look like pussycats. These soldiers have contributed to the most sickenning part of mankind's history. This documentary should be made compulsory viewing for all students of modern history and warfare. In the way it was presented, I can guarantee that there is no "off-putting" part as suggested by another reviewer in his "perceived bias of the victim nation's propaganda". HELLO... it was made by Japanese!!! Duh. There's simply no excuse for what these men did.We should all view this so history will never repeat itself.Lest we forget the past for our future's sake.