This film is intentionally ripped out of any historical context—it is a work of historical falsification. There is not even a hint of the god-like veneration of the Emperor, the ruthless police-state measures of the militarist government, or the reactionary attitudes of the army brass. What led to the war and how it ended is completely unexplained. Nothing is shown of the atrocities carried out by the Imperial army.
The Eternal Zero is focused entirely of the sphere of the individual, precisely to avoid any examination of the historical issues. It is part and parcel of the current campaign of historical revisionism that seeks to whitewash the crimes of Japanese imperialism, including against the Japanese working class, during the 1930s and 1940s. The film lacks artistic integrity precisely because it is, in the final analysis, a piece of propaganda aimed at deluding the young generation about World War II. To say the least, The Eternal Zero leaves a bad aftertaste.
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“They’re just continuing a phony myth, saying, ‘Take pride in the Zero fighter.’ I’ve hated that sort of thing ever since I was a kid.” - Hayao Miyazaki on The Eternal Zero
Based on a novel by an ultra-nationalist who (apart from explicitly defending the attack on Pearl Harbor) has claimed that the Nanking (Nanjing) massacre, one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century, in which the Japanese army slaughtered up to 300,000 soldiers and civilians, “never happened.”
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monty
This film is intentionally ripped out of any historical context—it is a work of historical falsification. There is not even a hint of the god-like veneration of the Emperor, the ruthless police-state measures of the militarist government, or the reactionary attitudes of the army brass. What led to the war and how it ended is completely unexplained. Nothing is shown of the atrocities carried out by the Imperial army.The Eternal Zero is focused entirely of the sphere of the individual, precisely to avoid any examination of the historical issues. It is part and parcel of the current campaign of historical revisionism that seeks to whitewash the crimes of Japanese imperialism, including against the Japanese working class, during the 1930s and 1940s. The film lacks artistic integrity precisely because it is, in the final analysis, a piece of propaganda aimed at deluding the young generation about World War II. To say the least, The Eternal Zero leaves a bad aftertaste.
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“They’re just continuing a phony myth, saying, ‘Take pride in the Zero fighter.’ I’ve hated that sort of thing ever since I was a kid.” - Hayao Miyazaki on The Eternal Zero
monty
AKA The Eternal ZeroBased on a novel by an ultra-nationalist who (apart from explicitly defending the attack on Pearl Harbor) has claimed that the Nanking (Nanjing) massacre, one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century, in which the Japanese army slaughtered up to 300,000 soldiers and civilians, “never happened.”