Arthur Harari's 'Onoda' Opens Artpress Film Series

Arthur Harari's film 'Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle' (2021, 167 min) launches artpress's new 'Rentrée du cinéma' series, which presents one film per episode. The film tells the true story of Hiro Onoda, a Japanese Imperial Army lieutenant sent to Lubang Island, Philippines, in late 1944 to delay the American landing. After being pushed into the mountains with surviving comrades, Onoda refused to believe World War II had ended until 1974. Harari, known for his 2015 crime film 'Diamant noir', aimed for an adventure story in the tradition of Stevenson or Conrad. Entirely in Japanese, the film adopts a complex perspective oscillating between identification and distance regarding this historical misreading. It captures the rhythm and spatial construction of classic Japanese cinema, presenting Onoda as a half-man, half-plant figure whose uniform becomes a bush-like camouflage. The film patiently shows his transformation into a Robinson Crusoe-like survivor, learning to forage, find shelter, and treat injuries. A key scene involves Onoda and his last companion Kozuka misinterpreting a 1951 official delegation, leading to a feverish exegesis of Onoda's father's words. The film blends absurdist theater and elegiac poetry.