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Film Reviews

Valkyrie: Riding Roughshod Over History?
Luke Turner , January 23rd, 2009 05:31

We've come to expect Hollywood to rewrite history, says Luke Turner. But in the case of Von Stauffenberg, the mono-armed, cycloptic plotter who tried to blow up Hitler, is there even space to do this?

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Otoko Tachi No Yamato
Scene of Battle: Pacifc conflict, World War Two

Behind Enemy lines: Hardly known in the West, this 2005 film looks at the final, suicidal voyage of the Yamato, the largest battleship ever constructed. The action scenes are violent and bloody, and while Otoko Tachi No Yamato skirts around the reasons for Japanese involvement in World War Two, it is a visceral exploration of ideas of duty and masculinity within Japanese culture.