Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle (2021) - Third Window Films Review
Let me ask you, "are you ready to die for the Emperor?"
Regardless of your answer, one person who certainly isn't ready to die anytime soon, and in fact has been explicitly forbidden to die, is young Hiroo Onoda. (Solidly played by both Yuya Endo and Kanji Tsuda.)
Hand-picked by the Japanese intelligence service in 1944, Onoda is now stationed in World War II Lubang, where he and his troops must carry out merciless Guerilla warfare and suicide missions in the name of "the Fatherland."
Such is Onoda's unyielding devotion to his sinister boss, Colonel Yoshimi Taniguchi (Issey Ogata), and his feral abhorrence of surrender, Onoda refuses to back down and cease fighting, even when the war ended almost thirty years ago.
Arthur Harari's 2hr 46min slow burn epic Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle, is a shocking and poignant portrayal of true life soldier Onoda, who did in fact, as the title suggests, spend 10,000 nights hiding out in a Philippines jungle.
While controversy around both this film and the historical figure it portrays are rampant, I entreat upon you to forget about the politics, and focus instead on this film as the tale of a man with an incredible and harrowing story.
10,000 Nights is a breath-taking period piece with an emphasis on delivering an authentic retro aesthetic. Starting off in 1974, days before Onoda finally returns to civilization, the film flickers back and forth through time, parcelling out the twisted backstory that shapes the reasons for our young fighter's refusal to acquiesce to defeat.
As if contending with a World War wasn't hard enough, the film depicts grim, gritty scenes of the dissension, mistrust and in-fighting that spreads through the military camp faster than the chilling mystery illness that's picking off their party one by one.
Starvation is another insidious enemy for Onoda's men to deal with. Stealing rations is a common past-time, and the penalty for getting caught is severe - and does nothing to help with the flagrant paranoia cloaking the comrades in fear. Sick of the ration stealing and threat from the main group, Onoda selects an elite few to join him on a break away mission, leading them further and further into the jungle, and into his own isolated psyche.
Despite being told by both native villagers and receiving an air-drop of fliers informing them that the war is over, Onoda and co. think this is all just a clever ruse by the enemy to trick them into surrender.
Onoda is convinced beyond doubt that his secret service cohorts are not only still sending them coded messages and cosmic clues about their "ongoing" mission, but that all they have to do is hang tight in the jungle and wait for these mystery men to collect them and bring them home. His comrades accept this in full faith, and wait with him. Carrying out a "mission" that no one asked them to do, fighting a war that was no more.
That being said, considering that the following was drilled into him at the Futamata secret service school: "If there's an enemy, there's a mission", "You must think and decide alone", "You don't have the right to die - you must find another solution" - is it really any wonder he was too brainwashed to back down? And re: his peers, mob mentality rules.
But brainwashing aside, they could, I suppose, be forgiven in those initial post-war months for being confused about what to do. Communications, I'm sure, were delayed and conflicting. But it beggars belief how they managed to see such a lack of war and the changing of fashions in the area over the years and not even wonder if they were perhaps wrong in their belief?
The years drag on unrelenting. The grinding hunger, the boredom of seeing nothing but green day in, day out - there's literally no visual relief from the verdant vegetation, quiet nature the only soundscape, the constant mental strain of being in survival mode, killing the occasional gun wielding farmer, just defending their crops. It's almost unbearable for the viewer just to watch, so imagine that as your everyday life? It's a testament to the director for being able to put the viewer in such a position!
As the years progress, Onoda's party dwindles through illness, tragedy and escape, until finally, years later in the seventies - he's the last (frail, old) man standing.
The plot moves at a contemplative pace, bringing the viewer on a journey of emotions, questioning everything Onoda does. Is he an insane madman dooming his crew? Or a poignant figure deserving of our sympathy?
The friendships between the men and their unswerving loyalty to their Lieutenant is touching, and adds heart to an otherwise unflinching cinematic experience. During an emotional scene of Onoda and his second in command, Kinshichi, swimming beneath a blazing red sun (metaphor, anyone?) Kinshichi coyly remarks "I'm glad to have you as a leader".
Watching the final scenes of him on his lonesome, particularly him revisiting the graves of his fallen friends, the viewer wonders:
"Is it kinder now to leave Onoda as he is, scavenging away on the island? Famous in Japan as one of the last great hold outs and sharing mythical status alongside the Yeti? Would entreating into his solitary, singular world, and forcing him back into the modern world do more harm than good? Surely he'd need full mental rehabilitation in order to thrive within today's fast paced environment? And history has sadly proven that countries don't always take the best care of their war vets..."
You'll have to watch to see, and prepare to be both outraged and moved by the ending. With this film, Harari paints just one panel of a much wider picture, and whether or not it was of his own design, no one can deny the ordeal the real life Hiroo Onoda went through.
Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle is perfect for fans of Junji Ito's Deserter, the Korean war-horror R-Point and Studio Ghibli's soul destroying Grave of the Fireflies.
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