Review of Fires on the Plain (2015) by Ben U — 10 Jun 2007

WOW. I know I had important things to say about this film... Everything all lined up, but the sheer visceral power of the piece has for the moment, knocked it out of me. In short this is one of the best films EVER. I was utterly enthralled, hypnotized, entangled.

Not an anit-war film, not a pro-war film. Just a war film. It just shows it. There is no real ideology.

Director, Kon Ichikawa is a master. The screenplay by his wife, Natto Wada is the best kind; relaying all important info and theme through image and not dialog.

It has to be one of the most ingenious, amazing films from a technical standpoint, particularly in terms of cinematography, but also just from it's incredibly aware and sharp use, of editing.

It is both subtle and BIG.

I say subtle because even though the film has big operatic cuts with flaring music cues it is all done in such an honest, "in the moment" way that takes you deeper and deeper into this nightmare, into this utter horror, leading you on a string, hypnotized, with the main character, putting you into his state of mind.

You never know quite where this will go, you can rarely guess what scene will come next, which adds great tension and a complete sense of the unknown to every turn, every cut or look.

It is a picture that is essentially "plotless", it is a journey or trek to perhaps nowhere, and is very much like a documentary in it's energy, but never in its look.

There is a sprinkling of black humor, which adds as much relief as it does disgust, shock and fear.

The film has a complete and utter feeling that this is the end of the world, the apocalypse... And what humans can be liable to do there... yes I am talking about cannibalism.

For a cultural cinema that is known for BIG ACTING, even in their very best films, "Fires On The Plain" has some of the most natural performances I've ever seen in a Japanese film. Eiji Funakoshi gives the perfect balance between every state of the human mind; he's going mad, his thoughts are far off, though he is present, and acts on instinct sometimes and at other times just kind of drifts like a ghost. He seems down right stupid, overly obedient and needy (Like a puppy) but appears to know English. He suffers from TB but is in generally better health then most of the other characters we encounter. Perhaps the disease has put him into this daze, into this shock further than others and has somehow protected him; perhaps his nearing child like insanity has somewhat shielded him from some of the realities that others have taken... Is he lucky in his survival or persistent? Does either one matter?

And that what makes a fully dimensional character, a real damn person.

Multiple thoughts running, no thoughts spouting at all. Sometimes a decision made is one we might not understand, or at least not right away.

To me these are the best kinds of films - Ones that just show an event or a time or a person as is, with no real bias but using all the tools of a filmmaker in a generally grand operatic and visceral fashion... to make you care on an instinctual level. To be involved, to be fascinated, and to be utterly transfixed.

"Perfume" did that for me, as did "Come And See". And now so has "Fires On The Plain".