SYNOPSICS
Blood Oath (1990) is a English,Japanese movie. Stephen Wallace has directed this movie. Bryan Brown,George Takei,Terry O'Quinn,John Bach are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1990. Blood Oath (1990) is considered one of the best Drama,War movie in India and around the world.
The island of Ambon in Indonesia, 1945. During the War, the number of Australian POWs on the island had dropped from 1100 to less than 300 due to abuses by their Japanese captors. Capt. Cooper is the chief prosecutor. In a mass grave, the bodies of 300 executed servicemen have been unearthed. Cooper assumes that the massacre was ordered by Baron Takahashi, Japanese commander on Ambon. But the one potential witness has gone mad and is due to be shipped back to Australia. No captured airmen were found alive on the island at all, not even the four-man crew of a reconnaissance plane shot down late in the War. Takahashi is returned to the island in the custody of an American officer, Maj. Beckett. But there is little evidence with which to prosecute the Baron. Cooper thinks he could make a case for the missing airmen if only their bodies could be located. And why does Maj. Beckett appear interested in not seeing Takahashi convicted? Cooper gets a break when Lt. Tanaka, a communications ...
Blood Oath (1990) Reviews
Excellent.
There is a video for this film and it is a good one. The story, a post WW2 investigation of atrocities committed against allied prisoners of war by the Japanese Imperial Army, is a gripping one with an ironic twist. George Takei, the lovable Sulu from the old Star Trek plays a first class slime. Bryant Brown is dynamic (isn't he always) and there are other excellent performances turned in by Japanese actors Tetsu Watanabe and Toshi Shioya. This is not a film for the faint of heart. The story line often presented in flashback is tense and intense. The final scenes with their political agendized justice leaves all us with much to ponder. An excellent film in many respects. A wrenching portrait of a terrible time in our history. Check it out.
Enjoyable but heavy in parts
This film is well made and well cast. The story-line is fairly easy to follow and has just the right amount of action. However, in places the action can be somewhat heavy... although this can only really be expected of a film on this theme. If you like war-time court-room dramas then you will enjoy this film. It is not predictable and the characters are believable.
VERY ABSORBING DRAMA WITH GREAT ACTING
Bryan Brown is a lawyer prosecuting Japanese Officers and Soldiers for war crimes committed on Australian prisoners. However, all his witnesses are either dead or have been sent home and all the records have been destroyed. This is a very absorbing video with good acting from everyone. Makes you wonder if there are ever any winners in war or does one side just lose more than the other.
A dark history
We all know about Nuremberg, the Nazi leadership was sentenced to death, but what about their allies the Japanese Empire? To some historians, the Japanese POW was on par with the Nazi's Death camp where most Allied POWs never made it out. The movie Prisoners of the Sun shows one of the few court where following orders is just as bad as murdering. Just because he is following orders, he is still held accountable. George Taki plays the sly Admiral who manage to wheeze his way without admitting guilt. Lt. Tanaka who in fact was a Christian, but let the loyalty of his country cloud his judgment. Captain Ikeuchi is the savage camp commandant and no doubt was the sole person behind the war crimes. The movie itself was great acting with nothing you could see except are facts, most was real emotions I'm sure from the actor especially playing a heavy role here. Now on to the entertainment value, there is none. This movie itself is a historical docudrama and there is no kissing sex or any of that garbage here. The purpose is to open a dark window of what happened in the Japanese death camps that we know so little about. Even the Nazi death camps are very well documented compared to here. I recommend seeing this movie not for its entertainment value, but a history lesson of what really happen and how men can become monsters. It is a history to learn so that we don't repeat it again.
Closed in by inherent limitations, but very well-acted and structured.
There's an underlying factor about the design of a film like "Prisoners of the Sun" that doesn't allow for much leeway or originality. Much like similar films in this vein, the clichéd factors are unavoidable. There's to be the prosecutor with anger issues, the stoic (and typically un-convictable) evil leader, and finally, the sacrificial lamb. So, as it is with "Breaker Morant", the quality lies directly with those actors involved. Don't be fooled by Russell Crowe's recent high billing - he is certainly not a star. In fact, he is very nearly unnoticeable amidst the larger happenings around him. The main standout performances belong to Bryan Brown and John Polson. Polson, certainly, gives a lot to the role. He is broken, nervous and jumpy, and highly convincing. The development is rather predictable, I suppose, but the acting manages to carry it through. Overall, this is a good film - not great, but well considered. RATING: 6.9 out of 10