Added my girlfriend's (papayagirl1982) and her friend's blog to my list of links. Go take a look!

Every week the Centre for East Asian Studies here screens a movie. This quarter, since Introduction to Japanese Civilisation is being taught, the films every Friday have been Japanese films. These tend to be more obscure and more arthouse-ish films from the 1930s onwards.

This most recent screening was one of The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (Yukiyukite Shingun). There's certainly no nudity in this provocative documentary, and the English title is a bit of a mistranslation (but after viewing the movie not a wholly inaccurate one). I could describe it, but I think this review of a book on the film does it much better.

I'm still trying to work out what I think about the film. It feels a lot like Rashomon, since the ex-officers that Okuzaki harangues into confessing all provide testimonies that differ in little but crucial details. At the same time, for me at least, the documentary was a fascinating look at how the Japanese deal with uncomfortable and horrible truths. Social norms regarding honour, cameraderie and what can or cannot be said are all played out before Hara Kazuo's unflinching camera.