Fires On The Plain

A grim, intense Japanese war drama, FIRES ON THE PLAIN follows Funakoshi, a tubercular soldier condemned to wander a battle-scarred landscape in the closing days of WW II. Separated from his unit and rejected by the hospital because he must have his own food in order to gain admittance, Funakoshi flees the advancing Americans and is forced to hide in the jungle, where he encounters all manner of dangers, disease, and horror. Stunningly composed in black and white on a widescreen DaieiScope canvas, FIRES ON THE PLAIN is beautiful to look at (its magnificent Philippine vistas swallowing the insignificant Funakoshi) although philosophically horrible to contemplate. Th...