War Films

Randomly looked through the titles on the shelves of Carrefour. The megastore carry lots of Indonesian imports. Picked two obscure war films. May not be groundbreaking but special in their own little ways.

Only The Brave (2006) dir. Lance Nishikawa

I've watched a short film with regards to this subject matter and saw snippets of Go For Broke! (can watch the entire film here on Youtube). Japanese Americans who fought for the US Army in WWII. After Pearl Harbour, Japanese Americans were eyed with suspicions by the US government and moved into internment camps. To prove their loyalty to their motherland, young Japanese Americans signed up for the war and were shipped to the Europe.  

Only The Brave is an indie war film with action sequences that perhaps may not be appreciated by mainstream audience spoilt by big-budget war flicks. I appreciate the exploration of the soldiers' backstory though towards the middle, it got sort of a routine and drew "not again!" responses. Perhaps it's because I watched the film on my MBP sometime around 3am in the hotel room with a bed screaming for my head. Buddhist themes peppered across the entire film. A good material if I were to shoot a low-budget indie war flick.

The film ended with an epilogue that the Japanese American army unit portrayed in the film is the most decorated military outfit in the history of the US Army. Not sure how that is true and it if it so, it's a pity it's such a little-known fact.

 

Merah Putih aka Red and White (2009) dir. Yadi Sugandi

The first Indonesian film I've ever watched. Cheesey lines and plot. But I can still appreciate the film. It definitely took a lot of effort to make it. Plus so much oozing of patriotism, how not to like it? Enjoyed the coming together of soldiers from different faiths. I wonder if Indonesian Chinese took up arms with the Republican army and fought the Dutch?