''Shima'' is a 2007 film from

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

Plot

At the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, imperial

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

fanaticism seals the fate of an island's inhabitants and its garrison, through a massacre, interrupting the love between a soldier and a fisherman's daughter. The daughter survives, but the other survivor Taro- a soldier cut off from all communication- continues to serve the emperor for another thirty years. Tormented in his dreams by memories and his secret aspiration for eternal peace. Taro is regularly 'inspected' by his former military inspector Yamada, who exploits the situation to entertain former

officers, nostalgic of

Imperial Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent forma ...

, by luring visitors to the island through his War Veterans Association. The visitors are held captive and enrolled by Taro to serve in the army of the Great Emperor. For the sadistic pleasure of the former

officers, Yamada organises "inspections" during which the new recruits must prove their devotion to the emperor by sacrificing their lives. Many years later Shintaro, the son of the fisherman's daughter, finds himself on the island after searching for his father. He learns his father disappeared on the island just before the massacre. He contacts Yamada through the War Veterans Association, who agrees to take him and others to the island. But once they arrive he abandons them and puts Taro in charge. For Shintaro and his comrades this means forced enrolment, military drills and suffering. After months of torture Shintaro and the other captives start to accept Taro's twisted sense of reality. The training intensifies as Taro prepares the recruits to fight a mysterious enemy.

Cast

* Seidula Moldakhanov as Taro * Mikhail Vodzumi as Shintaro * Anvar Kenjaev as Yamada

Influences

Based on the true story of Lieutenant

Hiroo Onoda was an Imperial Japanese Army intelligence officer who fought in World War II and was a Japanese holdout who did not surrender at the war's end in August 1945. After the war ended, Onoda spent 29 years hiding in the Philippines until his former ...

, a

Japanese holdout Japanese holdouts ( ja, 残留日本兵, translit=Zanryū nipponhei, lit=remaining Japanese soldiers) were soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during the Pacific Theatre of World War II who continued fighting World Wa ...

who did not surrender until 1974. During his service, it has been estimated that he killed about thirty people, including American soldiers and local police militia.

References

External links

Grayson Pictures
*{{IMDb title, id=1059965 , title=Shima
Shima Film Website
2007 films 2007 action thriller films Pacific War films Anti-war films about World War II 2000s Russian-language films War epic films Uzbekistani drama films Japan in World War II