- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B004IA3IBQ
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By Tommy D
TOP 100 REVIEWER
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is based on a story from WW 2, which as ever means there is a wide latitude of poetic licence. This Australian/Japanese collaboration is set in Northern Australia and tells the story of Jack a WW1 veteran who lives in deliberate isolation fighting and coming to terms with the very real ghosts that still haunt him from the so called `Great War'.
The Japanese Prisoners of War at the nearby camp have been bullied and coerced into escaping and committing ritual suicide if necessary and after they break out, Jack finds and recaptures one of them. He then looks after him until the army come to collect him.
That is the basic story but the plot develops in flash backs to both Jacks experience in the trenches of Flanders in WW 1 and the experience of Masuru in the jungles of Borneo. Both of them have done things they are trying to come to terms with and as the plot unfolds it dawns that sometimes you have to have different coping strategies..
Despite the cover showing aeroplanes and explosions, this is most definitely not a war action film, for those expecting another `Kokoda'Kokoda - 39th Battalion [DVD], or indeed the excellent `Beneath Hill 60'Beneath Hill 60 [DVD] [2010], will most likely feel a bit disappointed. However it is a study in the psychological effects of war and the awful results that accrue when excessive peer pressure is applied. In that sense it probably has its roots closer to the much ignored `The Last Bullet'The Last Bullet [DVD] [1996] (with a bravura performance from 80's heart throb Jason Donovan).... Read more ›
The Japanese Prisoners of War at the nearby camp have been bullied and coerced into escaping and committing ritual suicide if necessary and after they break out, Jack finds and recaptures one of them. He then looks after him until the army come to collect him.
That is the basic story but the plot develops in flash backs to both Jacks experience in the trenches of Flanders in WW 1 and the experience of Masuru in the jungles of Borneo. Both of them have done things they are trying to come to terms with and as the plot unfolds it dawns that sometimes you have to have different coping strategies..
Despite the cover showing aeroplanes and explosions, this is most definitely not a war action film, for those expecting another `Kokoda'Kokoda - 39th Battalion [DVD], or indeed the excellent `Beneath Hill 60'Beneath Hill 60 [DVD] [2010], will most likely feel a bit disappointed. However it is a study in the psychological effects of war and the awful results that accrue when excessive peer pressure is applied. In that sense it probably has its roots closer to the much ignored `The Last Bullet'The Last Bullet [DVD] [1996] (with a bravura performance from 80's heart throb Jason Donovan).... Read more ›
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Bobby Smith
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:DVD
Very original, compelling and thoughtful little film. Although lacking in action sequences, this is a well directed, acted and filmed movie, based around the concept of honour and morals in war. The Jap and Aussie characters are thrown together in difficult circumstances and forced to see in each other a part of their past they would like to forget. The result is a flashback laced WW2/WW1 movie that works for those who seek more in life than explosions and gunfire.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Good book
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Though not a great film, it is interesting and above all thought-provoking. If someone has done a terrible thing and asks if you would have done the same, you are horrified and say 'no, never.' Well that's what happens in this film. Here, though, the one that says, 'no, never,' is actually placed in the same situation and behaves in a way that horrified him when presented with the hypothetical situation. This is what I find interesting about the film.
In the 1953 film The Cruel Sea, the captain of a minesweeper (Jack Hawkins) has to decide whether to depth-charge a U-boat and kill all the survivors of a tanker it has just sunk, or rescue the men from the sea and let the U-boat escape. He chooses the former option. It didn't occur to anyone to pose the question: what would he have done if his father had been one of the men in the sea?
In Broken Sun the what-would-you-have-done question is not only asked but answered.
Carl Jung would have loved this film. He would not only have cured Jack of his torment, but would also have written a book about it.
In the 1953 film The Cruel Sea, the captain of a minesweeper (Jack Hawkins) has to decide whether to depth-charge a U-boat and kill all the survivors of a tanker it has just sunk, or rescue the men from the sea and let the U-boat escape. He chooses the former option. It didn't occur to anyone to pose the question: what would he have done if his father had been one of the men in the sea?
In Broken Sun the what-would-you-have-done question is not only asked but answered.
Carl Jung would have loved this film. He would not only have cured Jack of his torment, but would also have written a book about it.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Australia has made a few good war films in recent years. Everyone remembers "Gallipoli", and more recently those excellent films "Kokoda 39th Batallion" and "Beneath Hill 60". Whilst this film is well intentioned, and attempts to address weighty issues, it not as good as these predeccessors. The film is based on the Cowra breakout where 545 Japanese POWs escaped from a prison camp in Australia. One of the prisoners suffering from the debilitating effects of war is captured by an old veteran of the last World War, who has his own demons to fight. The two find they have much in common, and a mutual trust is reached between them. As they wait for soldiers to arrive, they find that they have much in common. Will the Japanese soldier be willing to surrender once again, and return to Japan in disgrace?
The film marks the directorial debut of Brad Haynes who was clearly restricted to a small budget. It looks as though the film may have borrowed some of the uniforms and locations from "Beneath Hill 60" for the World War 1 flashback scenes. The films well intentioned aim is to show the shattering psychological effects of war on men, and to a certain degree it manages this. For the very best film on that subject look no further than "Regeneration". Unfortunately the relationship in this film is never really developed. It is very superficial and is never developed to make it believable that they could have a shared empathy. The film has a darkly depressing tone to it. It is not the sort of film to give to a friend as a lift me up. Sadly there is little to lift the all pervading sense of gloom and we end up with a film that is just too bleak and sombre to enjoy. I applaud the efforts of an independent film maker to make a profound film, but this one just doesn't quite work for me.... Read more ›
The film marks the directorial debut of Brad Haynes who was clearly restricted to a small budget. It looks as though the film may have borrowed some of the uniforms and locations from "Beneath Hill 60" for the World War 1 flashback scenes. The films well intentioned aim is to show the shattering psychological effects of war on men, and to a certain degree it manages this. For the very best film on that subject look no further than "Regeneration". Unfortunately the relationship in this film is never really developed. It is very superficial and is never developed to make it believable that they could have a shared empathy. The film has a darkly depressing tone to it. It is not the sort of film to give to a friend as a lift me up. Sadly there is little to lift the all pervading sense of gloom and we end up with a film that is just too bleak and sombre to enjoy. I applaud the efforts of an independent film maker to make a profound film, but this one just doesn't quite work for me.... Read more ›
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