The Eternal Zero

11 yrs 144 minutes • 2013 • 7.3

With over six million visitors at the cinema in Japan, The Eternal Zero is one of the top ten film successes in the country's history. It is also one of the most expensive, full of spectacular air battles. The film follows the flight crew and group leader Miyabe from the bombings of Pearl Harbor through the battles of Midway and Rabaul, whose devastating defeat causes several of the crew to sign up as kamikaze pilots. Helpless, he is forced to see his young men fly away to face a death both sure and meaningless to the glory for their emperors. Miyabe's own ideals are humanistic, with promises of coming home to his beloved wife and little daughter. But one day he takes a very unexpected decision... Maggie Lee writes in Variety: "Astonishingly skillful and breathlessly exciting air battles. The combination of the captivating story puts this a movie in a separate league."