User reviews

In the closing phase of the Second World War, Imperial Japan inserts numerous specially trained soldiers throughout the Pacific islands whose secret mission is to survive at all costs and wage an unending campaign of guerrilla warfare. This film depicts the three-decade campaign of postwar "resistance" waged on Lubang Island, Philippines by Hiroo Onoda, the very last of the infamous Japanese "holdouts" who refused to accept the war had ended, against all reason and repeated attempts to make contact.

As a film, it's great - it's dramatic and engaging, with great writing, direction, and acting. But the deeper social reality is quite disturbing. Onoda and others like him are revered by many in Japan as exemplars of grit, determination, and steadfast dedication to duty, rather than as exemplars of the kind of rigid fanaticism and pathological obedience that made a continent's worth of war crimes possible.

What a good surprise this film directed by a French and speaking of the war in the Pacific from the Japanese point of view. So unexpected and awesome in the same time. I could not believe that this young director is not under the influence of Clint Eastwood's LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, John Boorman's HELL IN THE PACIFIC or Kon Ichikawa's FIRES IN THE PLAINS. Impossible for me to think that he would have never heard of those three iconic films. Back to this one, I don't know how anyone could say harm about it, except maybe a bit too long; yes, maybe. Plus, it speaks not only of the japanese soldiers, but not the kamikaze or simple fighters, but some kind of secret section of soldiers sent into a Philippines Island. The young director from France is also aware of the Mizoguchi's influence and with the poetic lines of the Japanese spirit. Good film to be watched at any cost. Only for this incredible but so authentic story.

The movie's really good. The beginning kinda drags on, despite you perfectly understanding the stakes, but it pays out in the end.

The characters are lovable, the story's not far from what really happened. The picture's great, although slightly blurry sometimes.

Really worth it.

Greetings again from the darkness. There has been no shortage of conspiracy theories, either recently or historically, that have left non-believers bewildered at how 'the other side' held firm. Writer-director Arthur Harari and his co-writers Bernard Cendron and Vincent Poymiro bring the remarkable struggle of Hiroo Onoda to the screen. Onoda was a Japanese soldier who refused to believe WWII ended, and instead, continued his mission of resistance by spending thirty years in a Filipino jungle.

Onoda was only 22 when he entered the war in 1944. He is played as a young man by Yuya Endo, and in later years by Kanji Tsuda. The film goes mostly in chronological order, with only occasional flashbacks to Onoda's "special training" by Taniguchi (Issey Ogata), his trainer and trainer. The passing of years is noted on screen, and we watch as Onoda's squadron shrinks in size, holding at four for quite a while, before shifting to two, and finally only he remains. During the special training, Taniguchi declares, "You don't have the right to die", instilling a firm commitment to the cause in Onoda.

Also seared into Onoda's brain is the proclamation of, "We'll come back for you. No matter how long it takes, we'll come back for you." Still, it's fascinating to see his determination to keep fighting, despite so many signs that the war was over. He viewed magazine articles and radio broadcasts as tricks to draw him away from his mission ... going so far to decipher a coded message that was anything but that.

The young man who finally succeeds in lulling Onoda out of the jungle has his own mission - actually three of them: finding a panda, locating Onoda (by this time a legend), and tracking down a Yeti. It's a bittersweet moment for the long-dedicated soldier, and he went on to live many more years as a home country icon - considered a nationalist man of honor by some, a murdering fool by others. The film, and Onoda's saga, makes us question the point of war when it's impossible to tell if the war is over or ongoing. Harari's film is almost three hours, which is entirely too long ... but significantly shorter than the time Onoda spent in the jungle.

Releasing in theaters on October 14, 2022.

Felt it is a bit too long in several scenes particularly early on, but watched it very smoothly due to the great story line.

Actors are all very impressive. Performance by Taiga Nakano was a relief in otherwise very serious picture.

Director Arthur Harari should deserve an admiration creating all Japanese language picture despite limited business prospect.

Ken Kai.

This is really an outstanding movie which is not a "war movie" but rather a complex psychological one of what drive us as a person to take a stand when confronted to situations we could not have ever imagined. Of course education, training, the society, family history, the culture of the country in which you were born, all of this will play a major role with regard to the choice(s) that we will take in life. However, as per prior personal experiences and call it maybe "the genetics" these choices will be different for people even having the same cultural background. The life story of lieutenant Onoda is maybe what you could call an "extreme" one which, besides cultural background, was certainly facilitated by his "physical adaptation" allowing him to endure the certain hardships and harrowing experiences he encountered during his many years of isolation.

Onoda is a long movie but its length was necessary not to develop the psychological development of the main character but rather to allow the viewer to "feel" what it must have meant in terms of hardship, endurance and faith the choices that Lieutenant Onoda took to honor his pledge of obedience regardless the validity of the cause he chose to defend.

The fact the movie Onoda was released in full pandemic, of the relatively unknown nature of the real history of lieutenant Onoda and that the film must only be shown in the Japanese language (with subtitles) as an indispensable component of the story will certainly limit its diffusion in theaters. Still this will not hamper the fact that this is cinema of the highest caliber and that Arthur Harari, its French director succeeded in making an admirable movie not to be missed!

Screenplay was quite slow, runtime was quite long which is totally unnecessary. Cinematography, colour grading & editing could be much more better. This movie also failed to portrait lots of events at that time. There's no bgm through the entirre movie which was another defect.

The case of Onoda, a WW2 Japanese soldier who carried on fighting for thirty years on the Philippine island of Lubang before being persuaded to give up, was a celebrated case in the mid 1970s, and I was really impressed by this dramatic reconstruction of his life. It's a high quality movie, beautifully filmed, thoughtful, and well played all round, though I also thought it a bit too long at more than 2.5 hours. There are great performances all round and solid direction which almost has a David Lean approach at times (no bad thing), so it's a 'small scale epic' with a heart, and well worth a view. There are some supremely effective moments, and the film deserves a wider audience, though you do have spare quite a bit of time.

Rumtime was quite long which was totally unnecessary, failed to portrait lots of events at that time, screenplay was slow & boring. Cinematography, colour grading & editing should be much more better. "Oba: The Last Samurai" was much more better than this.

Hiro Onoda is talked of in WW2 history as being the last Japanese soldier to surrender; 29 years after the end of WW2 in 1945 (1946 for total end for Japan) on the Philippine island of Lubang. I often wonder why they chose him as the one who got the most attention, story's and films. This is because he was not the last Japanese soldier of WW2 to surrender.

That particular piece of history belongs to Teruo Nakamura who lived for 30 years in the jungle of Morotai; in the old Dutch East Indies. I found out it was because he was treated disgustingly by the Japanese government of the time in 1974 and, that they did not consider him worthy of Japanese soldier honours. This was because his real name was Attun Palalin and he came from ethnic 'Amis', as a native of Taiwan, which was then called Formosa Island, before World War II became a colony of the Japanese Empire.

They and over a 100 others were found scattered on various islands, still fighting years after the end of the war. The last most recent discovery is of 2 soldiers aged 83 and 86 who were found 60 years after the wars end.

I'm sure that there were probably a good many who were never found and that is a shame the Japanese will have to bear forever. It is good that story's such as this come to light and allow later generations to realize the sheer futility of war. The only negative to this film was it being at least an hour too long (it runs for 2:46 minutes) and, very slow paced and a personal belief that this did not follow his story as written in his daily diary of events.

R. I. P. To all of those brave men, lost souls and survivors and also, to any other nationality soldiers who were left behind and stranded on ex island military bases.

To hell with Russia's Vladimir Putin and his attempt to take back what Russia wrongly stole after WW2. The Ukraine is 'Not Gonna Take It' and a lot of Russian families will once again suffer the wasted loss of loved ones.

Although a little bit long, this is about offering us to share a rather unique and captivating life experience, that of brainwashed Japanese soldiers who only stopped the war 30 years after the capitulation. I appreciated the warm and moist beauty of the jungle and the tropical forest, the change of scenery provided, the sober image which seems authentic and of the period, the "film" aspect and documentary grain. Documentary also as long as there is no lady state. Innocent people go there. The story that is told to us is quite simply captivating and I would not have believed that this anecdote from History, which could be summed up in a few lines, could fit into such a great film. With hindsight, however, I can understand that it does not please some who would fall into boredom; with this film it's a bit all or nothing, you have to succeed in immersing yourself. It is a French film, and as such it must be emphasized that it is a nugget.

Hollywood could take some lessons on how to make a good quality movie. Absolutely no big name actors and no need for any. Im sure there could be come nit picking on accuracy, editing, etc. But for the average film goer that is looking for a high quality and enjoyable movie then this is it. I'm sure some will it is too long, but compared to the overpriced and over budgeted Hollywood 90 minute catastrophes this is worth the extra amount of time.

I enjoyed the acting, the setting and scenery. Though from what I understand it was not filmed in the Philippines. But honestly? Who cares. A movie worth the price of admission.

This is a crazy movie. 10,000 days surviving in the jungle whilst still believing that WW2 was still happening. That's from until 1973...long long after the WW2 units were dissolved by the Japanese army yet his unit was the last one. Ever.

It's a great angle on how good Japanese soldiers are. There's plenty of honour and Bushido ways. The old samurai war code. It's honour code is upholded brilliantly by Onoda.

The footage is great. Lots of raining jungle scenes. It's authentic. It's gritty. You feel the action. The wounds. The pain. The isolation. Not eating meat for weeks. Not having a descent normal diet or lifestyle.

There's also a strong sense of opposition propaganda with the disinformation war. Despite being told from various sources at various times that the war has finished Onoda refuses to believe. Why? Because of his training and his rigorous following of his honour code.

It's really marvelous film and I'm so glad that it opened at Cannes' weekend as so many great indie gems don't get the exposure they deserve.

Another fabulous Third Windows' Films release. Superb. Cheers Adam and team.

"Onoda" is intentionally slow at times but also intense when it needs to be. The run time is filled with seemingly boring scenes depicting the soldiers' every-day lives. But those scenes also tells the audience how slow time goes by for them. Director Arthur Harari with writers Bernard Cendron and Vincent Poymiro are capable of showing a new aspect of war and what a soldier will believe in just for his mission. The transformation of Onoda from an inexperienced young to a numb old man is beautifully shown with the editing. Actors Yuya Endo and Kanji Tsuda know the character well and can portray each of Onoda's phases perfectly.

The cinematography works well reminding the audience of the realism of the film and the tone of the film. Even the shootings and the bombings shown in the film are cruelly realistic. It's impressive to see the soldiers come up with their own theories and plans and dismissing everything that is being told to them by the outside world. Every element of this film works together to bring an unforgettable and emotional experience despite the film's length.

Achingly slow in parts perhaps to illustrate the slowness of life of these anachronisms of WW2. Bouts of tension are few and far in-between. Anyone who has endured a couple of weeks of quarantine during COVID will empathise with the feelings of isolation, cabin fever and absence of purpose. An incredible story of loyalty to country, human resilience and tenacity.

Above average but you need to be prepared to spend time to watch this movie.

The subject is very interesting but the film fails: its photography is ugly although it would like to be beautiful, "artistic", same thing with the movements of the camera, silly and useless. The typical case of the overrated film, which only benefits from the interest of the subject.