1968 · drama · war · satire
The Human Bullet
Directed by Kihachi Okamoto1h 56m1968
A soldier has been in the Japanese military for the entirety of WWII, and in that time, his dedication to the army has never faltered. However, as the war draws to a close, his commanding officers become increasingly desperate and push their men to ever more absurd extremes. The ridiculousness of the orders from above peak when the hero of the story is assigned to drive a one-man submarine straight into the hull of an enemy battleship.
Our read: The Human Bullet (1968) reads as a sombre, kinetic, inventive drama · war · satire entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, nihilistic in outlook.
Sombre, kinetic, measured drama / war, inventive in texture. Nihilistic, mid-stakes, measured.
- sombre
- brisk
- intense
- inventive
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How The Human Bullet feels to watch.
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“You want blackly comic anti-war satire about the absurdity and human cost of desperate WWII orders.”
Skip it tonight — Skip if suicide missions, rape scenes, and bleak war futility will leave you disturbed.
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