Pacific Battleship Yamato [DVD]

As a big fan of the film I was extremely disappointed to learn upon watching the film that the UK DVD version omits the original Japanese Dolby digital 5.1 track and contains only a Dolby Digital 2.0 track! This is extremely disappointing especially when the German DVD version (available from Amazon.de) has the original Japanese 5.1 track! The picture quality and transfer on the UK version is pretty poor and to top of it has no extras or inserts.

If you want a decent copy of the film either buy the German version with Japanese 5.1 track (German subtitles) or buy like I did the Hong Kong version which has english subtitles, Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS for almost the same price

Film: 8/10
PQ: 4/10 UK version
Sound: 3/10 UK Version

Great little film about the crew of the doomed Yamato, a ship sacrificed largely to appease the air force, whose planes had launched a 700 kamikaze raid on US shipping on 6 April 1945, in the region of Okinawa. Yamato, the worlds largest ever battleship was sent on a symbolic surface kamikaze mission, on 7 April, with the aim of destroying American shipping. Of course, given Allied air superiority, this was never going to happen and the ship was destroyed by air power. The film concentrates on the experiences of a group of young Japanese cadet recruits and is quite moving in the way it shows them bond, live and die together. I personally found the home front scenes equally interesting, as they are rarely shown in the west. As a companion piece I recommend the book Requiem for Battleship "Yamato" (History and Politics)

This movie is available on DVD in Poland since 2007 and being a military history freak I bought it immediately - and I was VERY disappointed, for many reasons:

1. This movie was clearly made with a tiny budget and it shows immediately in the two battle sequences (the battle of Leyte in October 1944 and the final "Yamato" sortie during Okinawa campaign). It is especially disappointing for the final fight, when "Yamato" and her screen (cruiser "Yahagi" and the eight destroyers) faced hundreds of American planes (Avengers armed with torpedoes, Helldivers carrying bombs and Hellcats and Corsairs using their guns and rockets to suppress anti-aircraft guns). Do not expect a fair reconstruction of this apocalyptic fight - all the "American" planes look exactly the same, they fly in the same way, they are always hit in the same place, etc. The way the fire of main battery of "Yamato" is shown is extremely disappointing - the biggest guns ever mounted on a warship are barely audible and the terrifying effect of their salves is missing in action. The few CGI effects are barely noticeable and it seems that their only reason to be is to figure on the back cover of DVD to encourage (deceive?) the buyers. Oh, and finally, "Yahagi" and the destroyers are not even shown during the battle - when in the real story they valiantly and stubbornly stayed with "Yamato" to the end, "Yahagi" and three destroyers being destroyed in the process (a fourth destroyer, "Asashimo", which was earlier separated from the rest of the group because of engine troubles, met also her fate this day, sinking with all her crew of 326...).

2. The scenario is a subtle mixture of patriotic propaganda and Hallmark family drama, without absolutely any feeling of authenticity. You will not find there any elements of real life of Japanese soldiers and sailors during WWII: the brutality of relations between officers and rank and file (and even more between NCOs and rank and file) is totally absent, you will not find anything about Japanese occupation of conquered countries (even if sailors go out on land in occupied territories), the backbreaking effort of hard daily work on a warship is absent, conflicts between people are barely there, dialogs are incredibly empty of any interesting content, etc. All sailors are squeaky clean, in good health, well fed, well behaved, never having any doubts or even a bad mood, drinking with moderation, never going to a cathouse (and we talk here about 2300 sailors 3000 miles from home!), always volunteering for more work, daily writing letters to the family and aspiring only and exclusively to die for the Emperor.

3. The crucial moments when the operation "Ten-Go" (the last sortie during Okinawa campaign) is announced are very poorly shown. In the real history, many high level officers of Imperial Japanese Navy strongly objected against this madness, arguing that "Yamato" "Yahagi" and the eight destroyers could be better used in the defense of mainland. When the orders were maintained, they requested at least the air cover - which was denied (all available planes were send the same day against the American invasion fleet near Okinawa). There were more protests even after that - but all this tense and tragic situation is barely shown in the movie!

Considering all this, I believe that this movie is UNWORTHY of the tragedy which was "Yamato" last battle and the - useless and avoidable - death of 3700 sailors from "Yamato", "Yahagi", "Asashimo", "Isokaze", "Kasumi" and "Hamakaze". I really hope that another movie, better and more realistic, will be made one day. And for that reason, I advise you against buying this film, except if you are a total history freak (like me) and do not mind wasting a couple of euros (pounds) and some shelf space on a little, not very good, exotic curiosity.