Thrust!
Say, you son-of-a-gun, what are you doing?
Stand still! You think you can stab Yankees like that?
Today I will chew you out until you fall!
Yes, Sergeant. Thank you very much.
Sergeant Tamura!
I have told you these rough methods are not permitted here.
But, sir, these lazy scum can't fight a war like this.
We are on the foremost war front.
You are right, but we have no enemy on this island.
What we need here is not to know how to fight,
but how to stand the long war.
But, sir, we have forgotten that we are the lmperial Army soldiers.
Soldiers?
Tamura, and just what are the soldiers?
The countless varieties of ordinary men blown together by the big wind called war.
Do you call him a soldier? Tokumaru was a Buddhist priest.
I still am, sir.
The people say once you become a priest for three days you can never stop it.
Is military service hard for you?
No, it isn't, sir, if it is for our country.
All right, keep it up.
Yes, sir.
You cannot be like this next time.
Next time I'll chew your tails off until you fall. Dismissed!
Detach bayonets.
Attention!
At ease.
- Ando. - Sir.
You are making good progress.
If only we have this boat we can contact our main force and bring us supplies.
I'm really glad that I can make use of my carpentry work.
To be useful is a most important thing.
I am fortunate to have a carpenter who can do such fine work with makeshift tools.
Thank you very much, sir.
- Say, Tamura! - Yes, sir!
Sergeant, I notice two men here who are assigned to other duties.
Hirano and Okuda.
Yes, sir, but I thought the boat construction needs are urgent.
You thought!
Hirano is busy with potato fields and Okuda catches fish for us.
Take them off the boat detail.
Yes, sir. As you wish, sir.
And one more thing.
Don't overwork the men in this midday heat. Dismiss them until morning.
Attention! Detail dismissed for the day!
Say, we all have worked hard today.
We can launch the boat tomorrow.
Shall we celebrate now, though we don't have any sake?
Corporal, I understand you are from Yamagata.
Yes, Yamagata is noted for rice and the Hanagasa 'flower hat' dance song.
Shall we start Bon dance?
Try and stop me.
Commander, you are a puzzle to me, if I may say so.
On one hand you talk about the urgency of boat building
while on the other hand you act as though time is nothing.
That's true. This place is as timeless as the moon.
Do you remember what day it is today?
No, sir, I have forgotten.
I only know I am being abandoned by the main force.
I had volunteered for combat duty.
So did I.
I am prepared to risk my life for the country, sir.
Commander, what's happening out there, sir?
Sometimes I wonder if the war front isn't moving to distant places northward.
What will become of Japan, sir?
Aircraft! North, northeast, direction of Bougainville.
Enemy aircraft approaching! Due south!
There!
Now one of our Zeros.
Complete assembly!
We must realize, sir, that time is against us.
The plane must have contacted its base by radio.
Yes. There will likely be an American rescue force.
Then we should attack the landing area before they come.
We shouldn't attack blindly.
The enemy commander would know better than to stay where he landed.
But, sir...
That's enough! I will take command.
Our first operation is to locate them and assess their strength. Tamura!
- Sir! - You will reconnoiter northeast.
Take Private Takumaru and Private Ishii with you.
Yes, sir.
Corporal Fujimoto, you will reconnoiter southeast.
- Yes, sir. - Leave immediately!
Yes, sir.
Sergeant, it's unwise to disobey our commander.
Commander! He is too tame for this job.
They say he was the top of his class at officer's school.
Shut up! Theory and practice is different.
But we are ordered to report to him as soon as we rendezvous.
Stop arguing! We can't depend on such a commander.
Quiet. We are getting close. Follow me.
Attach bayonets.
Those Yankees, slippery as snakes.
I may sound impertinent, sir,
but I have more combat experience than you have.
What's wrong with my trying to destroy the enemy?
And I would do likewise again, sir, at any sacrifice.
You fool!
I had planned to attack them tonight, but your disobedience ruined the plan.
Next time I will have your head chopped off.
Yes, sir.
Now listen. Our lookout has just reported that he had seen an enemy ship.
We will go into the emergency operation immediately. Ando?
- Yes, sir? - You know your orders.
- I do, sir. - Carry on.
Right face!
Don't let them get off a signal to the ship.
Shoot anyone who pops out of the jungle.
Now let's go.
Now let them come out. Let's go.
The fish?
Hey, this is good.
That's all today.
Fujimoto.
You will re-enforce the spring immediately.
Yes, sir.
But return at once if you hear firing from this quarter.
Yes, sir.
I suspect a decoy maneuver to get at our camp.
Commander, will the boat be all right? She is like a wife to me, sir.
Don't worry. We will defend your wife's honor.
Yes, sir.
Corporal Fujimoto will take three men to re-enforce the spring, sir.
Left face, forward on the double.
- Don't waste ammunition. - I saw something moving there.
You are impossible.
No Yankee boat thieves can be here until the full tide covers the reef.
But I am only telling you what I saw.
You fool! Don't be a chicken!
You are the worst soldier in the whole lmperial Army.
I believe I share the distinction, Sergeant.
I try to make allowances for a prayer reader.
If anything happens to me, read me a prayer, will you?
Oh, leave it up to me, Sergeant.
Stop it! Not time yet.
- Stay on your feet! - Why?
Get up, you too!
The boat is drifting!
Commander! Commander!
- Hold fire! - The fore cable has been cut.
The cable's been cut off. Take the boat on the other side of the pier.
Tamura! Cover them with fire.
Go!
There's enemy on the boat, too!
Bastards!
Hand grenade.
Tamura, cover me.
You took my boat. You took my boat. My boat! My boat.
Port arms.
- Tokumaru. - Yes, sir.
You read the prayer for them.
Yes, sir. I will bring my rosary.
Lance Corporal! Lance Corporal! Please, somebody, come!
Please, somebody, come! Commander!
Lance Corporal is trying to commit suicide. Please come! Hurry!
If I had been a step later we would have had another grave.
You make light of your life!
Hirano, why do you hurry to death?
Because I cannot do anything when my comrades die fighting.
Don't be silly. The fighting is not all of life.
We have only a few of us left
and we want to hear your songs.
Now let's see your leg.
And place the helmets from the graves in front of the barracks,
pretend the owners are still alive.
- Fujimoto. - Yes, sir.
Place a layer of hand grenades on sand in this box.
We don't want our enemy to know our real strength here.
If any of you has any ideas for two plus two equal eight use your initiative.
Yes, sir.
- Ishii. - Yes, sir.
- Is your malaria fever down yet? - I feel all right, sir.
The physician is on the way, sir.
And that captain is almost draining the well.
Did you find out the enemy strength? I ordered you to count the canteens.
Yes, sir, I counted, but...
But what? Make it clear.
- He fooled me. - Fooled you?
He brought only one canteen. It's the world's biggest.
A fuel tank from the plane.
I can't do business with Yankee traders.
Maybe he has a lot more soldiers than we estimated.
So do we here. Look.
It would look like lots of soldiers resting in the barracks.
You couldn't have chosen better window-dressing than that sluggard.
There he comes.
I have brought the doctor, sir.
Everybody out of the barracks! We have a visitor.
No, no. Let them rest.
As you were. Get your sleep.
Tokumaru.
- You take the doctor's case. - Yes, sir, I will.
What fool left all this dangerous stuff around here?
Put it out of the way.
Tamura!
Get him a glass of water.
This is a medicine, this will relax you.
Hirano.
Your leg has to be operated on.
Otherwise your life may be at risk.
Did you take the malaria medicine that guy gave you?
Could this be quinine? May be poison.
Hey!
Please cut off my leg.
Sato.
Bring Ando's tool.
Save us, merciful Buddha.
If I die without the operation I might as well die with it.
If the ship will not take a girl
I will cut my long hair
And put myself in military uniform And follow you wherever you go.
The coming of the monsoon!
Tidal wave weather.
Take all the supplies up the hill!
Say. Oh, damn it, I missed one.
You stay there. Don't move. Here we go.
Damn, I missed again. This time I'll get it.
Here I go.
You can do nothing for me.
Save us, merciful Buddha.
Left face! Forward march!
Keiko.