Fires on the Plain 4K 1959 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

Late fall of 1944. The last days of the Japanese occupation in the Philippines. The turf war has already been lost, the high command has been evacuated, and the infantry is left to die. Without provisions, medicine or ammunition, under Allied bombs and bullets from local guerrillas. Private Tamura was stranded on Leyte Island due to his ailment and gradually became "the man who isn't there." He was kicked out of the hospital back to the trenches to avoid wasting pills.

Review 4K Movie

The year is 1944. The Japanese occupation has devastated the lives of Filipinos; soldiers have become walking skeletons, and ammunition is running out. Therefore, they begin to get rid of unnecessary people, and Private Tomoru is expelled from the unit because of a minor ailment. He was also kicked out of the hospital, as they did not want to waste pills on healthy people. And so the main character was left alone. Around him was a black-and-white (in the style of the film) deserted landscape, silence that, if you listened closely, was broken by cries of pain, despair, and hatred. The unbearable nature of existence, when this noise weighs on you and everyone you meet is ready to kill you, is more like a bottomless vacuum of suffering. Death is not just behind you, but embraces you and walks forward with you. It doesn't matter what happens next, the end will come sooner or later, the only thing that matters is how you leave this world. These deadly games go on and on, prolonging the hopelessness of your situation. If you win two days or more, they will seem like an eternity to you.

The harsh naturalism that Itikawa shows in his film is incomparable to the retouched, glossy portrayal of war in the eyes of Hollywood directors. Itikawa does not speculate on the subject, evoking unnecessary emotions; he truly depicts how terrible war is. And instead of an exhausted protagonist who has already stopped feeling, the horror permeates the viewer. Field Lights is not the kind of film you will watch again, and it is very difficult to say for sure whether you liked it or not. This film is like a maniac hitting you over the head with a bat: it is impossible to forget.

The main character goes through several circles of hell, encountering people who certainly cannot be considered good; everyone tries to rob him, borrow something from him, or simply kill him. These people have long been consumed by darkness from within, their souls long lost behind the corpses of those they have killed along the way. And Tomoru, wandering with the eyes of an enlightened martyr, tries to remain human amid this violence and malice... what else can he do? The only thing he is sure of is the grenade he has saved for the final battle.

He wanders through the jungle, watching helplessly as others try to save their lives. It's the end: if you surrender to the enemy, they will torture you and then kill you, and if you keep going, you will die of hunger. The hopelessness of the situation weighs heavily, exposing the true animal nature of people. Tomoru rushes about, falling into one small group of wretches after another, both of which are trying to organize an escape from the place that was once called home and is now a prison. The illusory dream of escape does not fade, because if there is hell, then there must be heaven. The director does not try to play on characters or add anything incredible; no, he simply films how it was, and that's all.

This is a dark, slow-moving film. At first, you get caught up in it with one foot, then your whole body is sucked into the void, and the viewer finds themselves a hostage to this world. A world where ruthless enemies, without batting an eye, pump a whole magazine of bullets into your comrade, a world where a soldier you meet on your way, already dying, is forced to eat his own body. Where the soldiers you decide to stay with for a while first talk at length about how few sane people are left, and then try to take your grenade away from you. There is really only one way out of this hell, but it is better to leave it in peace, tranquility, and simply as a human being.