To call this a war movie would be cutting it short. It is more of a drama which happened to be set during WW2. It follows a village community in occupied China for about six months. One of the townsmen is one night confronted by an unknown assailant who threatens him and tells him to keep something safe for a few days from the Japanese who are stationed near the village. This 'something' happens to be a Japanese sergeant and his Chinese interpreter. A few days quickly turn into a few months when the assailant does not return to the village. What to do with these prisoners of war? Turn them over to the Japanese? Keep them hidden until they are picked up? Or dispose of them all together? The questions raised bring to the surface questions of loyalty, bravery, community, family, fidelity, and what it means to be a human being. It is a relatively slow moving film, that only resorts to quick cuts in editing when the story falls into chaos. The black and white cinematography is beautiful, and so are the long shots of some of the locations where the picture was filmed. The musical score sometimes fits the movie perfectly, and at other times it seems to miss its mark, which is probably done deliberately to emphasize the crazy things that happen on screen.
All in all this is a powerful drama, with some comedy, mainly caused by the faulty translations by the interpreter. Only the final third of the movie really shows us what war can do to men. Though it strays a little from the build-up, you could feel or see some of the ending coming. But even if you do, it packs quite a punch. A great film, which I certainly plan on seeing more than once.
