Hell in the Pacific (1968) [Film Review]

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

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