Behind the Powder Smoke and Hail of Bullets: ―War Footage and Two Films on the Battle of Okinawa―

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Other Title
  • 硝煙弾雨の向こう側 ―戦争フッテージと沖縄戦をめぐる二つのフィルム―
  • ショウエン ダンウ ノ ムコウガワ : センソウ フッテージ ト オキナワセン オ メグル フタツ ノ フィルム

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Abstract

This paper explores how the filmmakers of two films on the Battle of Okinawa, those which were created in the mid to late 1990s, attempted to transform the inner structure of the images in the U.S. military footage of the Battle from a military-centered narrative to a people-centered one. One of the two films is A Document of the Battle of Okinawa: Told One Foot at a Time （1995）, which was produced by the Okinawa’s citizens’ movement for collection of the war footage regarding the Battle of Okinawa （the One-Foot Movement Group）, and the other is Level 5（ 1997）, which was directed by one of the most influential directors in postwar France, Chris Marker. It focuses on war and memory in Okinawa, particularly “collective suicide.” These two films are different from each other in their production processes, means, purposes, lengths, plots, storylines, narrative forms, and so on. However, both edited and used U.S. military footage about the battle and prompted profound reconsideration of war memories and their significance in the context of the 50th commemoration of the end of the Second World War. This paper focuses on how both films attempted to revitalize the memory of contemporary history and imagine the realities behind the powder smoke and hail of bullets. The paper also seeks to develop the connections between people on the battleground and those in the audience.

Journal

  • 地域研究

    地域研究 (31), 35-55, 2024-02

    沖縄大学地域研究所

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