Yes it was a propaganda film but it showed the people as humans and not monsters. The director did a wonderful job and the actors also did well. The propaganda was subtle but still there and allowed the film to pass the censors. What was disconcerting was the disregard for the truth. The headlines of China attacking the Japanese at Shanghai and Japan as the victim. Even though the people were portrayed as human I kept thinking how could they commit Pearl Harbor, Singapore, Philippines, Rape of Nanking, Bataan Death March, the railroad like the movie Bridge over the River Quai, and attacking China in the 1930's. In the movie the soldiers and their families were happy to die for the Emperor and I feel no remorse that we were able to accommodate them. My mother, father, and wife's family were all in WWII and had the acquaintance of the Japanese.
