One war film; two directors, two viewpoints1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteA movie about a Japanese World War Two captain rallying his troops to hold out against overwhelming U.S. odds after the end of the Battle of Saipan sounds like a typical tale of guts, gore and a glorious end.
Yet “Oba: The Last Samurai,” set for release on Friday in Japan, is far from the usual war movie.
It was filmed by two separate crews of actors and directors — one Japanese and one U.S. team side by side — a style not used in quite this way since “Tora, Tora, Tora” in 1970.
Moreover, the two teams rarely discussed how each was making the movie, and when putting it all together, found that the Japanese style differed vastly from the American.
