Directed by
Brad Haynes
95 minutes
Rated MA
Reviewed by
Sharon Hurst
Broken Sun
Synopsis: It is 1944 and ex World War 1 veteran, Jack, (Jai Koutrae) is at home on his NSW farm, unable to fight in the current war due to ill health, both physical and psychological. Daily he patrols his land, rifle in hand, ready to shoot at anything. In the nearby countryside, a group of Japanese POWs are plotting a break-out. One man, Masaru, (Shingo Usami) successfully escapes and stumbles onto Jack’s property. After initial aggression, suspicion and fear, the two men settle into an uneasy truce in which they recognise in each other the humanity beneath the soldier’s uniform.Produced independently on a small budget, this highly ambitious film spans many years and three languages. It is based on the true events of the Cowra breakout in 1944, but also includes scenes of trench warfare from World War 1 as well as scenes of battle between the Japanese and the Aussies in the Pacific. But it is not the facts of battle with which it is concerned but rather the tragic effects of war on men, especially those who survive, no matter which side one is fighting on.
The film packs a strong wallop in the way it carefully juxtaposes beautiful rural landscape with the ugliness of war. Thus in the opening scene we see a gorgeous bushscape and then a soldier hanging from a tree. The explanation of this comes a little later, after the film has done a fair bit of jumping around from present day 1944 back to the Somme trenches in which Jack was a soldier. Equally, sharp contrasts are drawn between the attitudes of the Japanese officers and those of the Western soldiers. The Japanese general tells his men it is a disgrace to be taken prisoner and better to suicide. However we soon discover Masaru is just another young and frightened soldier who wants to come home alive.
The film’s strength lies in the gentle relationship that develops between the shell-shocked Aussie and the Japanese escapee. Prior to Masaru’s arrival Jack suffers delusions of seeing past dead comrades by his bedside and it is highly significant to Jack’s past and Masaru’s present that the men discuss whether they could kill a comrade to save him from a worse fate.
There is one aspect of the film’s script that really bothered me – how could Masaru have spoken such good English? This aside, it is creditable that the film-makers have managed on such a small budget to construct a film that deals with important issues of warfare and basic humanity in an Australian setting. However, given that the film is also reasonably slow in pace and deals with a couple of shell-shocked and frightened people from a long gone war, not mention that it seems to have received no promotion, it is unlikely have crowds queuing up.
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