Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle

This is essential viewing for anyone with a modicum of interest in WWII history. For the odd individuals that don’t have any interest, this is still well worth a watch because of the powerful character study at play.

Onoda – 10,000 Nights in the Jungle, which runs two hours and 45 minutes, is an achievement: a moving and multifaceted film about one man’s quixotic attempt at leading a meaningful life.

This is an exciting, surprising treatment of a story many of us have heard only in half-understood whispers. Well worth settling in for.

Harari’s film is a practical, simple and saddening document of everyday madness.

Part John Ford, part Sam Fuller, the film’s old-fashioned approach is oddly impressive: To tell this kind of story in such blunt-edged, straightforward style is a distinctive choice when the temptation to veer into revisionist war-is-hell commentary, Malickian nature-study or Herzogian descent-into-madness bombast must have been strong.

Here is a really well-made, old-fashioned anti-war epic in a forthright and robustly enjoyable style from director and co-writer Arthur Harari.

In the end, the movie is about a delusional guy who doesn't realize he's been indoctrinated, but it is also an emotional exploration of loyalty, camaraderie, and stubbornness.