Watched Umizaru and Yamato today in office. Both movies were good but i think Ee Wei didn't like Yamato caused he was complaining it was boring at the 90/144min mark. Ming Wei was asking alot of questions during the movie (as usual) and reminding us every 5 minutes that he hates the Japanese (during Yamato). Ok i think we got your point the 5th time you repeated that...
But i feel that he is condemning the entire Japan for the actions of their ancestors in the war, which i find pretty unfair. That's like saying every Muslim is a terrorist because of a few extremists (ahem, Alex and Soo Lim). I think Ming Wei lost the focus of the movie if he just concentrated on his hatred of the Japanese. Ming Wei was so sure that the entire movie was twisting history but from the wiki entry on the history of the Yamato i would say the gist of the show is pretty accurate.
It's not an attempt to glorify or vindicate the Japanese but more on how on either side of the war, the ones involved are humans with family and loved ones as well. Does killing innocent people by dropping a bomb make it more forgiveable than torturing the same people before they die? Would shooting someone in the head make it less cruel than injecting mercury into a person's bloodstream? Even Clint Eastwood knows better than to continually potray the Japanese as villains; he takes the same humanisation approach in Letters from Iwo Jima as well. Be it the US, Israel, Pakistan, N.Korea or Japan, when it comes to a war, everyone is just duty-bound to act in the best interest of their own country. For all we know if Singapore gets in a long war we would have to follow orders and do something unthinkable as well.
Anyway all this talk is pretty depressing so i want to add i'm pretty impressed by Matsuyama Kenichi as Kamio in Yamato. I already liked his performance in Death Note as L and i will take note of future films he acts in. Also of note was Ai Kato in Umizaru. Pretty sweet as Kanna. Pity about her nose though. Never seen any of her other films before today but will also take note.
But i feel that he is condemning the entire Japan for the actions of their ancestors in the war, which i find pretty unfair. That's like saying every Muslim is a terrorist because of a few extremists (ahem, Alex and Soo Lim). I think Ming Wei lost the focus of the movie if he just concentrated on his hatred of the Japanese. Ming Wei was so sure that the entire movie was twisting history but from the wiki entry on the history of the Yamato i would say the gist of the show is pretty accurate.
It's not an attempt to glorify or vindicate the Japanese but more on how on either side of the war, the ones involved are humans with family and loved ones as well. Does killing innocent people by dropping a bomb make it more forgiveable than torturing the same people before they die? Would shooting someone in the head make it less cruel than injecting mercury into a person's bloodstream? Even Clint Eastwood knows better than to continually potray the Japanese as villains; he takes the same humanisation approach in Letters from Iwo Jima as well. Be it the US, Israel, Pakistan, N.Korea or Japan, when it comes to a war, everyone is just duty-bound to act in the best interest of their own country. For all we know if Singapore gets in a long war we would have to follow orders and do something unthinkable as well.
Anyway all this talk is pretty depressing so i want to add i'm pretty impressed by Matsuyama Kenichi as Kamio in Yamato. I already liked his performance in Death Note as L and i will take note of future films he acts in. Also of note was Ai Kato in Umizaru. Pretty sweet as Kanna. Pity about her nose though. Never seen any of her other films before today but will also take note.
1 comment:
Since when did I become racist? I am just a social racist. I have lots of Malay friends.
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