I don't generally like war movies (a blast from the past), but this movie was striking. From the "other side", regardless of which side was right or wrong, the scene when the beach was invaded made me think about what the soldiers must have felt.
Many of these men were drafted; they were not there by choice (thinking of the one who left behind his pregnant wife).
The futility that they must have felt when they saw the massive numbers of ships that were landing and the seemingly endless stream of troops on the beach.
The flip side is the Americans; landing, facing the machine guns in the caves. The need to face the mountain side, with spurts of gunfire.
As a Christian, I can imagine myself in the place of the Americans.
I know the outcome. Christ has already won the battle. There are other Christians all around me who are fighting the same battle that I am.
Like the fire from the caves, the flaming darts from the evil one are raining down. It is a battle - my temptations are not your temptations, yet there are no temptations that are not unknown.
I can feel like the Japanese; I can give in, I can cave. Or I can live to fight another day.
The soldier who the other thought was there to "tattle", but was there because he was discharged from another service - I feel like that sometimes.
To me, this movie is less about war and more about humanity - the feelings of anger, futility, fear.
All of those are known to me.
This is a good movie; it made me think about humanity, about emotions, about fear and temptation. It is not about who was right and who was wrong. It's about what the men went through to get to where it ended up.
4 out of 5 stars.
