Come back!
Escape attempt!
How about it?
They're offering us 500 more prisoners.
We lack accommodations.
Accommodations?
Don't you mean supervision?
We just caught seven prisoners trying to escape!
You caught them? Good work!
- Did they resist? - The bastards almost got away.
- From the pit? - The ore dump.
That's strange.
You were eating Chinese food here. How would you know?
How could they escape in broad daylight?
Look at this. Only desperate men would throw ore at me.
That makes it a break?
I'm not the only witness. It took 15 men to capture them.
Inside the compound? Running inside the compound is a break?
- Why do you defend the chinks? - I'll investigate this.
You needn't bother!
- Where are they? - The guard house.
Good.
Captain, what are your instructions?
Well, let's see.
Shall we try the method you've been suggesting?
He's a master swordsman.
How many men did you slay in China?
Wait! How can you be sure it was a break?
Silence! We have a witness. Any more objections?
Yes! An impassioned witness can't be trusted.
All those men want to escape. Would you execute them all?
- Why you... - Enough!
Whether it was or wasn't an escape attempt isn't the point.
All that matters is that we say it was!
Arguments will not be tolerated. Sergeant!
They're to be executed tomorrow. You decide how.
They will be executed tomorrow, sir!
I assume you approve.
You shall officially witness the execution!
You'll save seven men's lives
if you testify they weren't trying to escape.
They were trying to escape. They ran.
They should have stayed and taken their beating.
What's going to happen to us?
If injuring Okazaki was a crime, why not just investigate me?
Listen to me.
You're all guilty of attempted escape.
- Lies! - You're wronging the innocent!
Quiet!
Dog!
An investigation will reveal the truth.
Investigate it!
Immediately!
The investigation is over.
But I don't believe you tried to escape.
You're turning us over to the Kenpeitai?
I don't intend to.
But you never had faith in me before.
Perhaps it's best to doubt me now as well.
Those men have all the power!
I have none!
I'll do everything I can until tomorrow evening.
Sir, if you ask them, the Kenpeitai will listen to reason.
This is an object lesson, Kaji.
Personally I don't approve,
but the head office says to leave it to the Kenpeitai.
Why?
Must there be a reason?
Please wait! You're about to chop off men's heads!
If the company protested strongly...
This is wartime. Peacetime reasoning doesn't apply.
That's no reason!
You may not think so, but I do. You're wasting your breath.
If you're not satisfied, speak to the head office.
I will!
There's no answer. He's in a conference.
Shouting like a madman!
Hello? One moment, please.
Someone else will take your call.
Okishima? We're in real trouble.
You've heard?
Hello? Hello?
I can't hear you!
Speak louder!
I can't hear you at all.
What's that?
Give up?
That's ridiculous!
Okishima, please talk to them again.
Please try again. I'll be waiting.
I'll be honest. There's only one chance in a hundred.
This does not concern us alone.
Just as my companions stand between life and death,
so do you now stand at an important crossroads.
You're right.
If you fail now, no one will ever trust you again,
and you too will lose faith in yourself.
It's true.
Yet you would do nothing?
What can I do?
Must a man outside this barbed wire ask me such a question?
Not all the Japanese working here are murderous devils.
Their combined opinion objecting to this execution
will be more effective than one individual alone.
If I'd always acted as you wanted me to,
there'd be no Kaji here today.
I'd like to see what you'd do in my position.
You and I will both make minor mistakes.
Such things can be forgiven.
But an error made at a crucial moment is an unforgivable crime.
Your life has been a series of errors
stemming from the conflict between your work and yourself.
Such errors can possibly be corrected.
But this one cannot.
Meaning?
You'll either be revealed as a murderer wearing the mask of humanism
or as one worthy of the beautiful name..."man."
I know that.
You have less faith in man than you try to believe.
Regardless of how you might feel,
true men will always find kindred spirits!
What will happen to Kao?
I wish I knew myself.
When will you release him?
You won't kill Kao, will you?
You won't, will you?
Hello? Okishima? What's the decision?
Calm down and listen.
The manager is no help, the old fool.
Wait until morning. I'll talk to the chairman.
The chairman?
Yes, the chairman! I'll make him listen to me.
Please go away.
I want to be alone.
Mr. Kaji!
Please save him!
Save him!
He wouldn't try to escape!
We planned to be married after the war ended.
You won't kill him, will you? You're a good man.
You won't kill him, will you?
Go to sleep and stop worrying.
I won't do anything.
There's nothing I can do.
Can I really set my mind at ease?
Really?
Go to sleep and don't worry.
I'll try to sleep too.
Where are you going?
To free those men.
You can't! Think what might happen to you!
I don't care!
You did everything you could.
Don't you care what happens to you?
Well, I do!
Michiko, don't torment me!
I'll call for help! I won't let you do it.
You always go your own way, and perhaps you're right.
But if you free those men, they'll kill you for sure!
Please don't go!
I'll follow you! I'll shout for help!
Michiko, if I don't, I'm no longer a human being!
How can you ignore me like some stray dog?
Even you don't want to give up this life, do you?
Remember: You promised!
I'm sorry.
Go and do as you see fit.
Perhaps it's me who's wrong.
I can't have you feeling I stood in your way.
I don't want you hating me, not loving me anymore.
There's no hope for me!
- All ready! - Good work.
Spare us!
It's best to wet the blade. Keeps off the fat.
Kaji!
Stay right there.
Thanks for being my witness.
Get up!
On your knees!
Kaji...
you can tell them all later:
If they want to die, they can run all they like.
Next!
Spare me!
Want to try?
Next!
I don't want it!
I demand an explanation!
Why are we being executed?
Son of a bitch!
Japanese devils!
Stand up!
I'll go by myself!
Inhuman wretch!
This is your true form!
The face of a man...
but the heart of a beast!
Good! You show some grit.
Stay calm! Slash him!
The Chinese nation...
will live forever!
Don't think of it as a human head.
Take a rest and try again.
Next!
Spare my life!
Wait!
No more!
What?
Please stop!
Stay out of this or I'll kill you too!
I'm not afraid any longer. Kill me if you dare!
I'll be happy to oblige.
Enemy sympathizers deserve to be killed.
We won't let them kill our countrymen!
Stop them!
You're killing innocent men!
Murderers! Murderers!
Private!
Very well. The execution is called off.
Go back and join the others, quickly!
Take them back!
Kaji!
We're taking you to headquarters.
Pvt. Tanaka, take special care of our honored guest.
I'll return later. Go.
Kaji won't be coming home today.
Did something happen?
He refused to let me behead those enemy dogs.
He may not be back for a while. It all depends.
Did he hide anything?
No.
No wonder. Books by damn Westerners.
Open the desk drawers.
Place everything on top of the desk.
Son of a bitch!
How about it?
Wouldn't it be smarter to confess everything?
I only regret that I let you behead the first three.
You don't say!
You're a hopeless case.
Pvt. Tanaka...
you should show our guest more courtesy.
Kaji, don't you miss your wife?
She was crying. She'll have no one to ride her at night.
What have I done?
I'm no monster.
I'd like to put you back on top of your wife tonight,
but for that I'd need more cooperation from you.
What's so funny?
I don't pick pockets. I don't steal. I have nothing to confess.
Very interesting.
Then don't confess until I make you.
Show off your bravado while you can.
You let 18 POWs escape and failed to report it, didn't you?
Is it so funny you can't even answer?
I didn't report it, but I never let them escape.
You used that chink Chen to contact the prisoners.
Show me evidence. Or will you lose face if you can't prove it?
Son of a bitch!
Did you want something?
No.
I just didn't expect things to come to this.
Quarrels over work are one thing.
I didn't intend for others to do my fighting for me.
So I came to...
I understand.
I never thought Kaji would do such a thing.
Do what?
Oh... nothing.
I don't know what other people think,
but I know that whatever Kaji did, he alone could do.
I see. If that's how you feel, you can do as you please.
I just dropped by to see if I could help in any way.
I won't be asking for your help.
What you can do
is admit that those men were not trying to escape.
Admit it! You and Wang Heng Li plotted their escape.
Didn't you?
Why don't you answer?
Wang Heng Li was arrested. He confessed everything.
Wang was arrested?
Only his execution remains.
When will it be?
Worried? He was your friend, wasn't he?
He instigated the uprising at your suggestion, didn't he?
When is he to die?
Why don't you answer?
Very well.
Today I'll make you weep like a woman.
That'll be something for your wife to hear!
WANG HENG LI In Memoriam
Wang...
in the end you died without seeing the dawn.
But your countrymen...
will surely bury you by the light of the newborn day.
Get out here.
Come on.
Go inside.
Kiss her. Don't let me stop you.
Michiko, you mustn't come here.
Don't worry. Go home.
I brought some sushi. May I give it to him?
Go ahead.
Won't you have some?
Michiko...
if you ever need help, talk to Okishima.
Okishima, I'm counting on you.
Mr. Okishima...
is being transferred.
I came to say good-bye.
I see.
I'm sorry I wasn't any help on the phone.
I argued with the manager. I'm being shipped out to a smaller mine.
So that's how it is.
I'd have liked to stick around and fight with you some more.
Furuya's taking over my spot.
We're back to square one.
Is there anything you'd like?
Nothing.
So... I won't be seeing you again?
I learned so much from you.
No, it's me who learned from you.
Though you've paid a bitter price,
you finally caught the humanism train.
Oh, yes. Wang Heng Li...
No unauthorized conversation!
Your time is up.
Private!
Michiko!
You're hereby released by special permission.
But don't think you're out of the woods.
Remember: I'll always be watching you.
Wherever you go, I'll be there first.
Reporting back, sir.
It arrived, Kaji.
EMERGENCY SUMMONS TO MILITARY SERVICE
I knew something was up.
So you use me up and then throw me out.
I can't afford to lose you,
but there's nothing I can do.
Forget the smooth talk!
Nice way to get rid of those you don't want.
There's nothing I can do. Now I see the light.
I should have trusted the whores instead of the managers here!
I know you're tired, but turn your duties over to Furuya.
He needs to find a new leader among the special laborers.
Since Wang Heng Li escaped, no one wants to lead them.
Escaped?
Wang Heng Li escaped?
Thirty of them got away.
So he made it after all!
Good for you, Wang!
I hope they all get away!
Sir, please inform Furuya
that he's been spared a thorough beating thanks to Wang's escape.
I was going over there to thrash him, not hand over my duties.
But I've suddenly changed my mind.
I guess a man finds kindred spirits after all.
Japanese devil!
Kill me... like you murdered Kao!
Why don't you kill me, Japanese devil?
He murdered an innocent man!
Mr. Kaji.
Don't be angry.
I know you have a good heart...
but you weren't able to save Kao's life.
Michiko, you'll fall!
Welcome back!
I heard you'd come back in terrible shape.
But it's not true. You look well.
I'm so happy!
So very happy!
What's this?
They wouldn't!
No, it's not fair!
They promised you an exemption.
This is a dirty trick!
This is too much.
It's not fair.
Nothing can be done now.
What did you do to deserve this?
Nothing.
But I'd hoped to accomplish things with you when I returned.
Why must these terrible things happen to you?
What have you done to deserve this?
You're so thin,
so covered with scars.
And now they're dragging you off to war.
You mustn't die.
We must live again.
When will we meet again?
You'll come back. I know you will.
Japanese devil!
I hope you die!
Michiko, let's go home.
We still have 24 hours together.
Japanese devil!
END