AllMovie

This slow-moving Japanese documentary uses file footage and narration to try and explain the events leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor and beyond. The film clearly suggests that the Japanese had no control over the power of the war machine and were caught up in a series of events that made World War II inevitable. The battle of the Coral Sea, a student audience with the Emperor, and unseen film clips of the after-effects of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are shown. All events lead up to the Tokyo War Crimes criminal trials. The release of the film comes at a time when the Japanese/United States security agreement is slated for review. Although events are explained as inevitable and fatalistic, this is another feeble attempt by one of the Axis powers to rationalize their participation in the atrocities of World War II.