Hell in the Pacific

Set on a deserted tropical island, John Boorman's unusual World War II drama centers on a mostly wordless battle that essentially reduces the war to two men. Toshiro Mifune plays a stiff, severe Japanese soldier serving as the lone lookout on a lush South Seas island who spies an abandoned raft resting on a rocky bluff. Lee Marvin costars as an American sea-wreck survivor who washes ashore in Mifune's kingdom—parched and desperate—and begins to taunt and tease his enemy in an elaborate game of cat and mouse. With both men separated from their armies, countries, and even their very identities, Boorman presents this two-man war as an absurdist but deadly game between overgrown children, who finally grow tired and settle into tolerated co-existence. Along the way, Boorman creates a lush tropical paradise, capturing the timelessness of life outside civilization. Hell in the Pacific boasts excellent performances by Marvin and Mifune (the characters eventually converse with one another despite their complete inability to understand each other's language) as two enemies who overcome prejudice and communication barriers to briefly become partners in what is essentially an anti-war film. Extras include audio commentary by film historians Travis Crawford and Bill Ackerman, archival interviews, and an alternate ending. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)