Ken Ichigawa: Fires on the Plain

Director - Ken Ichigawa
Writer - Shohei Ooka (novel) & Natto Wada (writer)

Cast Character
Eiji Funakoshi .... Tamura
Osami Takizawa .... Yasuda
Mickey Curtis .... Nagamatsu
Mantaru Ushio .... Sergeant
Kyu Sazanka .... Army Surgeon

Fires on the Plain is a film without pretense or agenda. Its sole purpose is to show the reality and futility of war. The film starts with a Japanese army officer being hit by his superior for insubordination. His superior tries to explain the gravity of their situation being under fire. He tells him they have already lost two thirds of their men. The men are weak and the soldiers are looking for food. The desperation begins to sink in to the berated soldier as he senses his superior's dilemma. Tamura has tuberculosis and is next to useless. He can't even concentrate to the complaints he is given. He promises to return to the hospital to not be a waste and eat rations from the platoon.

They spend all day digging air-raid shelters. They dig shelters while the superior searches the forest for food. He tells the platoon the CO ordered him to the hospital again, they tell him not to give up despite his illness. He seems more than dead already. He goes en route to the hospital and sees smoke and possible the enemy. He encounters a man, a Filipino native, who offers him food. The native then disappears while saying he will get some food. The soldier finally finds the hospital and is rejected because he is not seriously injured. They are stationed in Ormoc City, Philippines. They sit and wait while the island they are defending gets shot up. They are short on soldiers and hardly get food.

They fight and complain of people trading food jealous of what little each other have. Men greedily eat what little rice they have growing delirious. The music heightens their desperation. One of the soldiers is caught stealing yams and is thrown out of the infirmary.

They see smoke and know the enemy is close. Explosions break way and they assume position. Desperation mounts higher as one soldier drinks water out of a river. One man is overjoyed as he finds a grenade which is like gold to him. The cinematography is really effective here as the high contrast shows the severity of their situation. There is only victory or failure and they are clearly running out of food and sanity. Tamura sees a reflected light and goes to a village finding no one. He finally finds corpses all in one pile and breaks down. He follows a couple into a hut which they are scared speechless of him. The woman screams alarming him which he shoots. She is dead and he cannot fix his weapon letting her boyfriend escape in time. He throws his rifle in the river ashamed of the murder he committed. His first in the entire war.

The soldiers Tamura encounters ask where his rifle is. He says he lost it. He tells Tamura all units are retreating to Cebu. They see he has salt and offer to take him along for a share of the salt. He obliges. They wait to go to the village where he found the salt but he is afraid they will find the woman he shot. They are suspicious of him.

Soldiers on the march play dead to a plane they hear but it happens to shoot a few of them dead. The rest of the group get up as if nothing happened and continue marching. Tamura refuses to look at the dead soldiers keeping his eyes on the prize - Cebu.

Tamura ditches his boots to enjoy the water on his feet. American troops come in by jeeps and Tamura hides to watch them. This is the first time he and his fellow troops have seen them up close. Tamura finds his squad leader. The guy who asked for salt from him again asks for some salt desperately. Tamura gives him a few pieces and the soldier gives him some advice. He tells him not to trust the squad leader and he will leave him high and dry once he has taken whatever is valuable from him. Tamura should have taken his advice more gravely. The squad leader heads to Palompon.

Tanks patrol and soldiers run away, they are revealed. Explosions burst the ground while lights search the ground. The next shot shows all the dead men and ripped trees. American medics make way and check dead bodies. Tamura makes a surrender flag just in case. An American jeep comes up and one Japanese soldier surrenders which the Americans kill. Surrender has just left his mind. He walks through the field of dead bodies. He meets one of his fellow soldiers and once he dies he takes his boots. Another soldier he talks to grows delirious and eats dirt in absolute hunger. The soldier offers his arm to eat when he is dead and Tamura looks tempted.

Tamura gives a soldier monkey meat but the soldier's teeth fall out when he eats it. Later Tamura collapses and Nagamatsu carries him to a tent. They kill monkeys to eat - the only way for them to stay alive. They ration the monkeys carefully - three pieces a day - breakfast, lunch and dinner. They eat raw grass when the meat is gone. Their desperation is heightened at every moment.

Namagatsu doesn't sleep next to his comrade, Yasuda, because he is afraid he will steal he rifle. Yasuda asks to look at Tamasura's grenade which Yasuda steals. Tamasura tried to get it back but Yasuda pulls out a knife showing he means business. Everyone grows desperate for any food or ammunition available. Yasuda calls for Nagamatsu and Tamura. He apologizes and says he has the grenade hidden. Nagamatsu shoots him dead. Nagamatsu desperately cuts Yasuda's body for food which disgusts Tamura. Tamura gets the gun and kills Nagamatsu. Tamura walks into the enemy controlled land lets the enemy fire and chooses to die.