Attack Squadron (1963)
Lt. Col. Senda resists the idea of sending Japanese fighter pilots on suicide missions. He believes that what is really necessary for Japan to regain momentum in the war is for the air force to gather its most brilliant pilots into an elite squadron and use the unit to pinpoint attacks on the Americans. Disrespected by the kamikaze pilots who think the "non-suicidal" pilots are afraid, the unit redeems itself by stunning victories. But success leads the military leaders to expect too much of the unit, and new orders portend disaster.
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As the plot line says, it's not a movie about kamikaze pilots, but only about fighting pilots during the last months of the war against the US army. I should say an ordinary war movie, but from the Japanese side. The characters are well described, as an American movie should have made too. Toshiro Mifune plays hare a commanding officer who fights against the idea to send pilots to death as kamikaze . The air battle sequences are effective for the period, but there is nothing special to say about this movie. I could have expected more powerful, poignant sequences as we saw in 2007 in Clint Eastwood's LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA.Japanese movie industry is well known for making very depressing films, a reflection of the pain and tragedies Japan has lived since 1945. But it's a very hard to find movie. Worth watching although.