Oba: The Last Samurai

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Movie: Oba: The Last Samurai
Romaji: Taiheiyo no kiseki - Fox to yobareta otoko
Japanese: 太平洋の奇跡-フォックスと呼ばれた男-
Director: Hideyuki Hirayama
Writer: Don Jones, Takuya Nishioka, Gregory Marquette, Cellin Gluck
Producer: Hiroshi Miyazaki, Shosaku Ohyama, Fumihiro Hirai, Yoshinari Shimatani, Hiroyasu Asami, Hiroyasu Murakam, Hiroshi Hattori, Zenko Ohhashi, Nobuyuki Iinuma, Morio Amak, Seiji Okuda
Cinematographer: Kozo Shibasaki, Garry Waller
Release Date: February 11, 2011
Runtime: 128 min.
Genre: Award Winning / Award Winning-Based on True Story / Award Winning-War / Award Winning-Period-1940
Distributor: Toho
Language: Japanese
Country: Japan

Plot Synopsis by AsianWiki Staff ©

Set during the end of WWII, Captain Oba and his group of 47 soldiers on the isle of Saipan fights against the U.S. army long after the Japanese Emperor surrendered ...

Notes

Based on the autobiographical novel "Oba, the Last Sumarai" by U.S. soldier Don Jones.

Cast



Yutaka Takenouchi	Toshiaki Karasawa	Mao Inoue	Takayuki Yamada
Captain Sakae Oba	Kesamatsu Horiuchi	Chieko Aono	Toshio Kitami



Tomoko Nakajima	Yoshinori Okada	Sadao Abe	Sean McGowan
Haruko Okuno	Saburo Bito	Suekichi Motoki	Captain Herman Lewis



Daniel Baldwin	Treat Williams	Itsuji Itao	Ken Mitsuishi
Colonel R.L.Pollard	Colonel J.F.Wessinger	Kinbara	Nagata



Tokio Emoto	Yoshimasa Kondo	Toshiya Sakai	Bengal
Ikegami	Banno	Akio Baba	Kazuo Oshiro

Additional Cast Members:

Shinichiro Matsuura - Sakae Oba's subordinate

Trailers

Image Gallery

Awards

Best Actor (Yutaka Takenouchi) - 2011 (54th) Blue Ribbon Awards - January 24, 2012

Comments

Dazou Jan 26 2013 3:49 pm This is a very good movie, especially the Japanese aspect of it. The American side could have been better, it seemed to take its cue from old Hollywood war films.

I would watch it again and recommend it to those interested in historical war movies.

sansei May 06 2011 12:56 pm I just recently saw this movie, and have not read the book nor knew of Oba-san. It was good to see one of the few WWII movies based upon the Japanese point of view. While there seemed to be a lot of "Hollywood", Takenouchi Yutaka did a fine job. Inoue Mao has also "graduated" from her "Hana Yori Dango" role, into a role with more depth. She over played her role a little, but overall did a good job.

Even though I knew nothing prior to viewing the movie, I want to read the book! I'd also like to see this movie again.

Max1984 Feb 15 2011 10:46 pm Saw the film yesterday. I read the book "Oba: The last Samurai" when it was released in English back in the late eighties and recently dug it out of my attic for a refresher.

I know it's impossible to compact an entire book into a couple hours but I was disappointed they showed none of Oba's difficulty even getting to Saipan (his transport was torpedoed and sunk) nor made mention of his family and the fact that he never saw his own son (born in 1937) until after returning to Japan.

Also, I found the US side acting to be rather lacking and unconvincing. Baldwin looked and talked more like a 50 year old overweight substance abuser than a Marine Corps Colonel... (The real Col. Pollard was in his mid thirties).

The English narration made no sense in a movie meant mainly for a Japanese audience. I found the narrator's voice (McGowan?) so monotone and boring it seemed like an afterthought. It seemed like an attempt to give the film some "foreign documentary" credibility.

Vulgar language and ethnic slurs (while undoubtedly common at the time and place) seemed clumsy and tossed in at the last minute. The movie could have done better without it or at least having it less obtrusive.

On a positive note, Aono Chieko's role was well played by Inoue and the early parts (especially) of the film of her were taken almost directly from the book.

All in all, I was not very impressed. However I am glad films on this subject are being made (by the Japanese) and are at least attempting to remain close to the true story.

hahah Dec 22 2010 11:07 am Yutaka and Yamada two of the best actors in japan very different to those fan girl actors who can't act. I will definitely watch this

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