Boy Soldiers: The Secret War in
Okinawa (2018): Directed by Chie Mikami and Hanayo Oya. Running
Time: 114 minutes.
Rating: 3.5/4
The Pacific Theater of World War II
was one of the most vast and sprawling military campaigns in history,
with the naval forces of Japan and the Allies traversing the largest
body of water on Earth, fighting and dying over control of a thousand
tiny specks of land. Okinawa, the southernmost island chain
considered part of Japan proper, was one of the final major campaigns
of this war.
Since the ideology of Japan's wartime
regime held that Japanese soil was sacred, and therefore worthy of
especially hard sacrifice, it was always well-known that the main
Japanese army would fight particularly hard against the invading
American forces. What was, and remains, far less-widely known is
that, in addition to the regular Japanese forces fighting on the
islands, the military employed an additional, secret force to also
attack and harass against American forces. These groups, led by
elite commanders from the mainland, were composed of children; the
young boys of Okinawa.
The directing team of Chie Mikami and
Hanayo Oya do a great service to history with this film by finally
bringing this particularly horrifying chapter of the Pacific War to
life. They were able to meet and interview a number of surviving
members, already in very advanced age, using their testimonies to
trace the activities of these covert troops over the course of the
battle for Okinawa. The time jumps between the past and present took
some getting used to, but once the film settles into a groove it
builds to a powerful moment towards the end where survivors of the
fight discuss their memories in the presence of cherry trees planted
as a testiment to the boys who fought and died.
Not that the film justifies the cause
or methods that led these boys to torment, trauma, and death; this
was child abuse and exploitation, plain and simple, ordered and
carried out by those far too high up and powerful to ever face any
real consequences for their actions. The film constantly reminds the
attentive viewers that this is the eternal and recurring cost of
power games played by those in power; in the end, the final cost is
always, always born by regular, innocent people, who have no control
or say in the decisions that shape their lives and, all too often,
end them. Children are the most vulnerable members of society.
Hence, sadly, they are the easiest to make victims out of by
manipulating and turning them to perverted, violent ends.
Not that the boys were the only ones
to bear the load of callous decisions. One of the most harrowing
stories in the film revolves around how the entire population of one
of the smaller islands was forced to relocate to another,
malaria-ridden island for reasons that were utter nonsense. Time and
again, those in power are either not able, or not willing, to
consider the true results of their actions.
The conclusion of the film does what
any great work of history must- take the events of the past and tie
them to directly to their continuted effect on the present. In the
case of Okinawa, they note that, as part of the increasing
militarization of Japanese government policy under Shinzo Abe,
military policies regarding treatment of civilians are once again
being loosened or amended to echo, in truly frightening ways, the
official policies that justified the mistreatment of Okinawa under
the military regime so many decades ago. If history does indeed
repeat itself, on Okinawa, it threatens to repeat itself as a
tragedy, not a farce.
There is strength to be found in
survival, though; despite the death and destruction, enough of the
boys and their families lived to ensure that their stories are not
forgotten. Okinawans remember how they were treated during the War,
and are not willing to acquiesce silently again, should the worst
come to pass. Surviving memory is a powerful medicine. This film
does its part in keeping that medicing potent and strong.
-Noah Franc
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