Hell in the Pacific; or, Man vs. Man
Enemy personnel and unfriendly natives. A man fighting for
survival in a jungle is in no position to maintain prisoners of war. Destroy
them if they are captured. Immediately. Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Today, I would like to discuss an important, yet a bit
forgotten, movie from Toshiro Mifune’s filmography. One could say that it is
simply a Cast Away all over again, but John Boorman’s Hell in the Pacific is so
much more than Robinson Crusoe-scenario. Why? Because its anti-war message
hits you in the guts like a baseball bat.
Release Info
Release Info
Directed by: John Boorman Starring: Lee Marvin, Toshiro Mifune
Language: English, Japanese Runtime: 103 min
Synopsis
World War II, Pacific Ocean. After one of the battles, an
American pilot (Lee Marvin) crashes near a desert island and reaches its
shore with a raft. It turns out that he is not the only inhabitant as the navy
captain Kuroda (Toshiro Mifune) also lost his unit. The two soldiers of the
opposing sides are trying to fight each other off. One enslaves the other and
vice versa. Only a long passage of time and harsh conditions on the island make
the two men realise that they need to cooperate in order to get out of this
natural hell. Therefore, despite the communication barrier, they join their
forces and proceed to building a raft.
For a second, I thought you were a Jap.
It took me quite a while in order to watch this movie as I
was expecting some depressing preaching about the war and its atrocities. However,
the movie was not made by ideological fanatics, but it was a British-Japanese
production. What is more, there are only two actors in the entire movie: Lee
Marvin and Toshiro Mifune. What an unexpected duo that works so well together.
This was the third Boorman’s feature film and, as he stated
in an interview about the movie (which I highly recommend), he really wanted to
make a silent picture. Indeed, Hell in the Pacific has very little dialogue as
it relies on the actors’ expressions, visuals, and Lalo Schifrin’s haunting music
score.
The movie’s theme of enemies-to-the-death starts right off
the bat as Mifune’s character becomes aware of Lee’s presence on the island.
The two soldiers try to annihilate each in the midst of a rainy jungle on a
desert island. No dialogue and no voiceover could make this anti-war message
so powerful. The island and the Pacific is static, but a man will always fight
with the other man because the higher authority told him to do so.
Nevertheless, the wilderness of the island (very much a
third character in the movie) exposes their personalities and vulnerabilities.
Even though they do not understand themselves linguistically, they develop a
bond of friendship when trying to escape the island. In other words, with the
abandonment of civilisation, they stop perceiving themselves as enemies. Only after suffering the hardships of the ocean, when they
reach the “man’s land”, the two friends gradually regress into their positions
from beginning of the movie. Civilisation gets in the way again.
What can I say about the performances? This is a two-men
show, so both Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune do an extraordinary job with the
material they are given. In addition, John Boorman disclosed that the two actors
behaved like best buddies on the set, and such a positive chemistry is more
than visible on film. Needless to say, Marvin and Mifune were at their peak
when the movie was made (in 1967, the year before, Marvin starred in The Dirty
Dozen, whereas Mifune in Japan’s Longest Day).
A word about the ending
There are actually two endings of the movie existing. First
is the original, theatrical one (forced by the producers in the edit), when the
pilot and Kuroda have a falling out and a bomb shell hits their shelter. To me,
it is a very abrupt and out of the tone way to end this story. So, they
overcame so much hardships and struggles just to die from a freaking bomb?!
Nevertheless, an alternate ending was included in some of the home releases (please head here). I think it is a much more suitable but also way sadder ending as the
two friends part their ways in bitter resentment.
Recommendations
I checked out this movie purely for Mifune, but I was
surprised to discover such a hidden gem. If you have not seen it, go ahead and
watch it right now. My recommendation goes especially to those who are
interested in the WWII conflicts on the Pacific as quite a few motion pictures
were made about this topic. However, Hell in the Pacific is not just about the civilisational
conflict. Its universal message transcends the confines of the frames in which
the story was set. In other words, it all comes down to helping each other out.
Overall Score 10/10
