Kamikaze

1789. KAMIKAZE (1961-USA-France). Directed, produced and written by PERRY WOLFF. Narrated by DUNCAN ELLIOTT. This sober, vividly realized documentary chronicles the conflict between America and Japan during World War II, from the events leading up to the latter’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor to the aftermath of the atom bomb blasts over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By November, 1941, all world powers but one had been rendered incapable of halting Japanese imperialism. That power was the United States, which had placed economic sanctions against Japan (and which, it is claimed here, ignored repeated warnings that the Pearl Harbor offensive was imminent). After the surprise attack, war was declared. What followed was a period in which the Japanese made steady progress in their effort to crush America. When the tide of the war dramatically turned after a number of striking, crucial American military victories, the Japanese employed a new, terrifying tactic: Kamikaze pilots, who were willing to sacrifice their lives as they crash-landed their planes into Allied warships. America’s ultimate answer to this was the atom bomb. “After Hiroshima, the Americans will not lose one million men in an invasion of Japan, After Hiroshima, Japanese fanaticism will crumble. After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the emperor will demand that Japan be surrendered.” Much of this story is told via some extraordinary newsreel footage, obtained from Allied and Japanese sources. 85 minutes. Documentary