Hana to heitai
FLOWERS & TROOPS
(c) 2009 Yojyu Matsubayashi
(c) 2009 Yojyu Matsubayashi
- Release Date
- August, 8th, 2009
- Running Time
- 106 min
- Genre
- Historical , Documentary
- Color
- Color
- Screening Format
- DVCAM
- Screen Size
- SD (4:3)
- Sound Processing
- Mono
[ Directed by ]
[ Produced by ]
[ Cast ]
[ Staff ]
- MATSUBAYASHI Yoju ── Cinematography
- MATSUBAYASHI Yoju ── Editor
- TSUJII Kiyoshi ── Editor
- TSUKADA Taizo ── Music
[ Distributor (Japan) ]
Yasuoka Films
[ Story ]
They are "unreturned soldiers" from World War II, who were sent to fight the Southeast Asian front but decided to remain there following Japan's defeat. Flowers & Troops is a war documentary that sheds light on the struggles of those unreturned soldiers, now in their 90's, who refused to be demobilized. Director Matsubayashi Yoju who was in his 20's at the time of production, spent almost three years chronicling their lives with persisting tenacity and recorded horrific wartime experiences as told by six veterans. Today, the former Japanese soldiers lead quiet lives near the border of Thailand and former Burma. At the end of the war, they abandoned their units and chose to remain in this foreign land, adjusting themselves to the culture while utilizing their various skills. One built a rice mill using technology derived from engines and provided people of minority tribes a low-rent place to live in his backyard. Another collected the remains of 800 Japanese soldiers and built a memorial at his own expense. Another who was a skilled mechanic became the first local employee of Toyota breaking into Asian market. Each man shares a dramatic story of marrying locally and rebuilding life from scratch.
[ Official Site ]
[ Film Festivals, Awards ]
Yamaji Fumiko Cinema Awards / Yamaji Fumiko Prize for Welfare 2009
Tahara Soichiro Nonfiction Prize / Incentive Prize 2009
[ Contact (International) ]
For further contact details, please contact UNIJAPAN -> [ Contact ]
