For many people, especially those who were confused by the complicated politics of the Cold War and its traumatising consequences like Vietnam or the nuclear race, the previous global conflict – World War Two – was considered to be the 'good' war. For the last half a century, that sentiment was shared by Hollywood. The reasons are simple: that conflict affected, directly or indirectly, almost every country on the globe, thus providing material for interesting drama and spectacular action. But most of all, World War Two could be seen as the last global conflict between clearly defined forces of Good and Evil. Such a simplistic formula is precious for Hollywood screenwriters, and the fact that most of the audience already knows who to cheer for makes their job much easier. As a result, very few Hollywood movies have actually tried to approach the events of World War Two from the perspective of a cold, objective historian. One such rare exception is Tora! Tora! Tora!, a spectacular 1970 US–Japan co-production about the event that still haunts relations between those two nations.
The subject matter of the film, as well as the approach, is clearly indicated in the opening titles. The purpose of the movie is to give a detailed description of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, based solely on documents and verified historical accounts. That historical event is still very traumatic for the American people, despite the fact that it paved the way to a great national triumph. So it was very unusual for the American authors not only to co-operate with their Japanese colleagues, but also to give them the opportunity to express their own view on the subject. Perhaps it was because the never-ending Vietnam nightmare had cast doubt on all well-established truths. In any case, the result is perhaps the most honest movie ever made about World War Two.
Tora! Tora! Tora! is actually a combination of two movies that document the event from two perspectives – Japanese and American. Each segment is written and directed by different directors (Japanese by Kinji Fukasaku and Toshio Masuda, American by Richard Fleischer), yet it works very well as a whole. First it documents the political events that led to the Japanese decision to attack; then the lengthy Japanese preparations for the attack and the unsuccessful American attempts to predict and prevent their hostile actions; finally, we see the attack itself and its immediate and devastating consequences. In those segments we see a huge contrast between the Japanese and the Americans. The Japanese are presented as hard-working, patriotic, brave and intelligent warriors who carefully prepare for their daring raid, leaving nothing to chance. The Americans are, on the other hand, portrayed as a bunch of incompetent idiots, with few exceptions whose common sense cannot defeat the sheer idiocy of military and political red tape.
In the entire film, there is very little room for strong character roles. As in many other docudramas, the characters are here simply to illustrate historical facts, not to work as the mechanism of the plot. The only exception is So Yamamura, who gives a very realistic yet humane portrait of Admiral Yamamoto, the Japanese fleet commander who organised the attack against the USA despite having more than serious doubts about bringing his country to war. However, the most attractive thing in Tora! Tora! Tora! is the scenes of the attack – a spectacle that was recreated with great care for authentic details. That could not have been done without the use of genuine locations and equipment, especially the planes. Another thing that helped the authenticity of this film was its 'Oscar'-winning special effects, which make the scenes of utter destruction very convincing even by today's standards. Historical accuracy, something seldom seen in Hollywood, recommends this film to any viewer who wants to learn something about World War Two.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on October 25th 1998)
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