Kamikaze in Color

With the terrible events of September 11, 2001 indelibly etched in our minds, this video offers an eerie parallel to a time over fifty years ago when young men also sacrificed their lives in attacks against the United States in order to achieve a glorious place in paradise. In the last few months of WWII, the American fleet, bloodied yet victorious in its relentless 'island hopping' campaign to reach the Japanese mainland, was almost brought to a halt by the 'kamikaze' attacks, a desperate last-ditch effort by the Japanese war leaders to prevent the inevitable U.S. victory. Young men, indoctrinated in the samurai tradition of Japan, were told that if they killed themselves in battle by ramming an American ship, the Emperor would grant them a place in paradise (consider the chilling words of Admiral Takijiro Onishi, mastermind behind the kamikaze attacks: "in blossom today, then scattered, 'life' is so like a delicate flower--how can one expect a fragrance to last forever?"). Combining brilliant color archival footage from U.S. and Japanese cameramen together with personal testaments, Kamikaze in Color recounts the unforgettable story of an act of fidelity that remains as foreign to the American sensibility today as it was over a half century ago. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (J. Carlson)