Oba: The Last Samurai

Oba: The Last Samurai (太平洋の奇跡 –フォックスと呼ばれた男 –, Taiheiyō no kiseki: Fokkusu to yobareta otoko, i.e. Miracle of the Pacific: The Man Called Fox), also known as Miracle of the Pacific, Battle of the Pacific and Codename: Fox, is a 2011 Japanese World War II Pacific War drama film directed by Hideyuki Hirayama and based on the true story of Captain Sakae Ōba, who together with his survivors held out on the island of Saipan for 512 days.[1][2]

Oba: The Last Samurai
Film poster
Directed byHideyuki Hirayama
Screenplay by
  • Takuya Nishioka
  • Gregory Marquette
  • Cellin Gluck
Based onOba, The Last Samurai
by Don Jones
StarringYutaka Takenouchi
Music byTakashi Kako
CinematographyKôzô Shibasaki
Release date
  • 11 February 2011 (2011-02-11) (Japan)
Running time
128 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
English

Plot

During the Battle of Saipan, on 7 July 1944, Captain Sakae Ōba partakes in a final banzai charge against the United States Marine Corps on the island of Saipan. It is the largest banzai charge of the Pacific War, but fails, resulting in over 4,000 Japanese deaths after 15 hours of close combat. American forces declare the island secure on 9 July, while Ōba and a handful of survivors retreat into the jungle and begin a guerrilla-style war using Mount Tapochau as a base due to its natural defensive position and prominent heights overlooking every possible approach.

With only 46 soldiers and 200 civilians at his disposal, Ōba (nicknamed "the Fox" by the Americans due to his cunning strategy) holds out for 512 days before surrendering on 1 December 1945, having lasted three months after Japan's capitulation following the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ōba marches down from the mountain with his remaining survivors singing a song “spirit of infantry” (imperial japanese army infantry song) and presents his sword to the American commander in a formal and dignified manner, the last organized resistance of Japanese forces of the Second World War.

Cast
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References
  1. Smith, Ian Hayden (2012). International Film Guide 2012. p. 156. ISBN 978-1908215017.
  2. "Oba: The Last Samurai". Japanese Film Festival. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
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