The Human Bullet

The Human Bullet (肉弾, Nikudan) is a 1968 Japanese satiric anti-war film about a soldier who becomes assigned to a suicide mission against the US Forces during the late stage of World War II. It was written and directed by Kihachi Okamoto.[1][2][3]

The Human Bullet
Directed byKihachi Okamoto
Written byKihachi Okamoto
Produced byKazuo Baba
Starring
Narrated byTatsuya Nakadai
CinematographyHiroshi Murai
Edited byYoshihiro Araki
Music byMasaru Sato
Production
companies
Distributed byArt Theatre Guild
Release date
  • 12 October 1968 (1968-10-12) (Japan)
[1][2]
Running time
116 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Plot

During the last days of the war, a nameless young cadet is assigned to a suicide mission, ordered to blow himself up with an ammunition crate under the expected enemy tanks. While awaiting the enemy's invasion, he makes the acquaintance of a young orphaned woman, who runs a brothel formerly owned by her parents, and two kid brothers. He falls in love with the young woman, who is later killed in an air raid, as is the elder of the brothers. Vowing revenge for the dead, he receives new orders from the deteriorating commanding staff, ordering him to manually steer a torpedo into the awaited enemy battleships. Twenty years after the war has ended, his skeletal remains float in an oil drum off the beach, his offscreen voice shouting "rabbit", the nickname he had given the girl.[lower-alpha 1]

Cast

Production

After negotiations with Toho Studios failed, Okamoto financed The Human Bullet himself,[4] shooting it on 16mm film (to be later released in 35 mm format).[5] Independent distribution and production company Art Theatre Guild acted as co-producer.[1][2]

Awards

The Human Bullet received the 1968 Mainichi Film Awards for Best Direction, Best Actor (Minori Terada), Best Music and Best Art Direction (Isao Akune).[3][6]

Notes
  1. The nickname refers to the Year of the Rabbit, the year in which the girl was born.

References
  1. "肉弾". Kinenote (in Japanese). Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  2. "肉弾". Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  3. "肉弾". Kotobank (in Japanese). Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  4. "Nikudan: Menschliche Bombe (Interview with Kihachi Okamoto by Peter B. High)". Viennale – Vienna International Film Festival. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  5. "Nikudan a.k.a. Human Bullet". Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst e.V. (in German). Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  6. "23rd Mainichi Film Awards (1968)" (in Japanese). Retrieved 13 February 2022.
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