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| Images courtesy of Arrow Video |
The science-fiction and fantasy literature from Japanese
novelist Ryō Hanmura was rife with cinematic possibilities and proved to be the
basis for one of Kadokawa Pictures’ biggest blockbusters with the Sonny Chiba starring
time-traveling medieval warfare versus modern warfare epic G.I. Samurai. Adapted for the screen by Ninja Wars director
Kōsei Saitō, produced by Haruki Kadokawa and released by Toho, it told
the story of a group of Japan Ground Self-Defense Forces and Japan Maritime
Self-Defense Forces combat units who during a routine defense exercise are
accidentally transported metaphysically back in time via an unknown phenomena
into the Warring States period amid one of the most brutal periods of medieval
Japanese warfare. Moreover, as bonds and
alliances begin to fray and disintegrate under pressure from the time period
coming down against the units, the forces of history are both threatened and
begin closing in on the soldiers with intent to kill.
Second Lieutenant Iba (Sonny Chiba) and his crew of soldiers
armed with a tank, an APC, patrol boat and helicopter during a routine exercise
are teleported back 400 years into the past during the Sengoku jidai. Initially samurai forces warring amongst the
soldiers wage an attack, until Iba manages to befriend and align his troops
with Nagao Kagetora (Isao Natsuyagi) the warring leader of Lord Koizumi who is
enthralled by the Self-Defense Forces military weaponry in action and successfully
persuades Iba and his troops to join in his fight for feudal rule in Japan. However, consternation and unrest percolates
among his troops split between wanting to go home while others like Private
First Class Mimura (Koji Naka) wish to further immerse themselves into the
period culture. As a faction of troops
try to desert and overthrow the villages, it soon becomes apparent modern
advanced military technology is no match for samurai forces in battle who at
first take many casualties but gradually overpower the military. Meanwhile Iba finds himself in existential
crisis, finding himself alive and fully engaged with warfare and his inner
vocation for the very first time whether it endangers the lives of his soldiers
or not.
An effects and pyrotechnics heavy action-adventure with
modern military vehicles, helicopters and weaponry entwined in battle with
medieval Japanese methods which piece-by-piece usurps and vanquishes modern technology,
an uncompromising science-fiction film without an easy exit or coda, a bluesy
sort of musical number montage with songs sung in Japanese and/or English
playing over passages of time, G.I. Samurai is a samurai warfare epic
like no other. Featuring real tanks and
aircraft as well as a manufactured one from scratch to comply with JGSDF
standards, it tries to realistically imagine what might happen if the military
of the present, our modern confidences and unforgiving brutal warfare of the
past found themselves thrown together in the same timeline. Whether or not our beleaguered soldiers make
it back to their timeline becomes secondary to whether or not their presence
will alter the course of history or if they’ll even survive the encounter. A study of how such a situation might break
up a military unit into disparate factions of those who can or can’t handle it
or how, in its Second Lieutenant Iba, it brings out the warmonger in him.
Featuring a number of needle drops throughout and original
music by Kentaro Haneda that straddles between the past and the present
anachronistically and scenic, arresting 1.85:1 cinematography by Iwao Isayama,
the look and feel of the world of G.I. Samurai though occasionally
jumping into modern-day flashbacks largely seems untouched by time. Sonny Chiba is a terrific leading action star
in Japanese film, having starred in Wolf Guy, Doberman Cop and
the Karate Beast Fighter movies, and here he gives one of his powerful
performances as a man succumbing to the throes and momentum of medieval
warfare. His obvious equal from the
other side of four centuries is Isao Natsuyagi as the nefarious and scheming
Kagetora who allies himself to the film’s hero, but to what truer purpose? The ensemble cast of characters is huge and
expansive but the saga more or less primarily boils down to these two principal
characters.
Released in Japan 1979, the $9 million budget film became
one of Kadokawa Pictures’ true blockbusters in a most unusual science-fiction
military medieval warfare epic and to date represents one of the few Hanmura
novels adapted for the silver screen. In
the years since, circa 2005 a remake entitled Sengoku Jietai 1549 followed
by a four-episode television series called Sengoku Jietai: Sekigahara no
Tatakai a year later by none other than the director of the 1979 film Kōsei Saitō. Later it was further referenced in the
Japense novel series Gate with regard to modern and medieval warring
factions clashing together. Seen now,
the film arose curiously close to the American sci-fi/war film The Final
Countdown which envisioned a modern aircraft carrier transported before the
attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese.
As it stands, seeing the samurai forces engaged in battle with modern
military forces with Sonny Chiba at the epicenter is a Japanese cinematic sight
you’re unlikely to see anywhere else or at such a high technical level.
--Andrew Kotwicki
