Yesterdays film Otoko-tachi no Yamato

Since I'm a lover of military stuff (hence my other Blog) and also WW II related topics i saw a Japanese movie yesterday about the Japanese WW II battleship Yamato. Next to airplanes my favorite is definately battleships. A pity they became obsolete because of the aircraft carriers. Great names like the Missouri, Yamato, HMS Hood and Bismarck. So for those who like battleships this is definately a movie you want to see. And fortunately it had English subtitles!

The title of the movie is: Otoko-tachi no Yamato
(website)

It's a movie of 2005 (60 years after the Yamato was sunk near Okinawa) The movie featured the wartime events of the Yamato and more specific a few sailors. It starts when a woman wants to find a boat to go to the spot where the Yamato sunk. It is about the day of the 60 year anniversary. The old man who takes her was a sailor on the Yamato and with flashbacks this story continues. The woman is the daughter of a sailor who the old man knew and had just passed away. The old man was not aware of the survival of this man. So you get flashbacks of the old man in relation to this father of this woman and some other stories. Eventually they reach the coordinates and the woman brings out the ashes of her father to spread them in the water. This was quite a loaded scene especially for the old man as well. As he never understood why he survived.

It gives a good impression how wartime japan must have been. Also the loss of family members and fellow sailors is good depicted. Quite an emotional movie in that regard. Also some action of course. The Leyte Gulf episode and the final battle at Okinawa.

The music is absolutely great. Some of the music is in the trailer below. They created big parts of the battleship and for a time people could visit the set which was very much done so. Surely i would have wanted to see it.

A fact about Yamato: Out of the 2,778 crew only 280 survived and were rescued.