Watch 3 Movies and write 3 page
essay
KON ICHIKAWA: FIRES ON THE PLAIN (NOBI) (1959) DIRECTOR KON ICHIKAWA’s film, FIRES ON THE
PLAIN (NOBI) is based on Shohei Ooka’s novel, Fires on the Plain (1957 [trans. Ivan Morris, Tokyo: Tuttle,
1992]). The film title, “fires on the plain,” may refer to signals set by the Philippino guerrilla fighters or fires
caused by American bombing.
Background During the final months of the Pacific War (February 1945), Japanese soldiers were trapped in
Leyte, the Philippines, and cut off by the invading American forces. Tamura was separated from his unit but
could not find shelter in a hospital because they did not accept him without food rations. When the Americans
arrived, Tamura fled into the jungle where he encountered the horrors of death, diseases, and hopelessness
(Japanese soldiers were told that the Americans would kill them if they were taken as POWs).
SHOHEI IMAMURA: BLACK RAIN (Kuroi ame) (1989) Director SHOHEI IMAMURA’s film, Black Rain, tries to
capture the scale of atomic destruction in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
- What images and symbols do Japanese filmmakers use to characterize the scale of total destruction and the
problems of wartime dehumanization in Zero Hero, Fires on the Plain, and Black Rain? - With reference to the book BLACK RAIN and the articles in Blackboard’s Readings on Japanese National
Cinema, can you identify any strategies that Japanese civilians and soldiers used to cope with the aftermaths
of war? - How far should one go to survive in a wartime situation as portrayed in these Japanese movies? Please
watch Zero Hero, Black rain and fires on the plain and answer these questions in a 3 page double spaced
paper