Flying from Los Angeles to Tokyo takes around thirteen to fourteen hours; Japan Airlines tries to make that time go more quickly by keeping its passengers eating regularly and by providing -- even in Economy Class -- an individually controlled entertainment package of music, video and film.

Among the films offered on this trip were two -- "G. I. Samurai" and "Samurai Commando" -- that played off the premise of sending contemporary SDF (Self Defense Force) troops back in time to the Period of the Warring States, that chaotic century or so between 1477 and 1573 during which almost constant warfare dominated life in Japan.

Given the situation (and the leisure time to do so), I watched both. "G. I. Samurai" (the original) was a real disaster, I thought, a low budget mess of an action fl ix designed to titillate and thrill the unthinking masses. "Samurai Commando" (the remake), though, wasn't all that bad, especially for an audience not already overly familiar with all the cinematic cliches that made their way into the proceedings -- the absent father bemoaning his failure to pay more attention to his young son; the romantic entanglement between figures from two different backgrounds (and time frames!); the would-be runaway trying to make sense of his life; his loyal-to-a-fault best friend; the reluctant hero and the ego-driven villain.

Most interestingly, the film explores themes tied to contemporary concerns with the role of the Japanese military in the twenty-first century. As Mark Shilling put it in his review of the film for The Japan Times, "Pedestrian as "Sengoku Jieitai" is in the telling, it suggests questions that many Japanese, after the long sleep of Heisei peace, are now awakening to. Is there a role for the SDF outside Japan -- or is its foreign dispatch [ to Iraq ] the first step down a slippery slope? Is there anything about this country worth fighting and dying for, beyond mere survival?

Clearly the film harkens back to a time when the military mattered and folks felt they had something worth fighting for -- honor, the Imperial Way, loyalty to one's superior, whatever. There is also present a kind of nostalgia for "the road not taken" and a desire to rewrite history so as to give Japan today a wider and more respected international leadership role. Again, as is so often the case, the storyline says lots more about Japan today than about the nation's past. The film was directed by Masaaki Tezuka (known for his work on the last three Godzilla installments) and served to mark the centenary of the production company releasing the movie.

- OCTOBER 27, 2005

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