The Tunnel. Pt.1

[Venseti]

Only reason I am here is because of an assignment at Vol State -.-

[caoileann1]

That is jeepers creepers

[schoolmornings]

I don't think it's fair to say that this short film is "anti-war" because you can say that for almost every good war film. The film is more about the haunting of someone's death which you feel guilty for. The story could have been told through the perspective of a doctor and it will have a similar effect. It's easy to say that "Apocalypse Now" is an anti-war film, but the story is about meeting a man who fascinates you and the journey towards him. I hope that makes sense

[benitoparra]

@schoolmornings I can see your point; we can clearly understand what you say, but in the other hand it can be considered an anti-war scene as well, because it depicts the effects the war has on veterans as many of them come back home with psychological problems such as the case depicted here where the man can see the personification of his guilt through visions of the fallen men under his command.

[wheresbeef]

Akira's father was a military officer who survived the war and I am he felt his father agony. He used the dog as a symbol of the haunting memory of wars. However, I must point out that Akira expresses only the impact of war on the japanese, who were aggressors to other nations, not the horror the japanese war machine brought to the war victims. I doubt he or other japanese really appreciate how it feels when a human was tied up and tore up by military dog, nor used in germ/chem weaponary exp.

[skaniukas]

@wheresbeef oh shut up

[Fuzileer]

@skaniukas No, you shut it. At least its something constructive.

[JonnyCashmore]

@wheresbeef .....Just like America claims the death toll of the Vietnam war to be 58000?!?......I guess the 3.1 million Vietnamese you murdered there aren't people, because they are not American.

How many Vietnamese names on the Washington memorial?............?

[JonnyCashmore]

@JonnyCashmore Yanks.....so ignorant it's just completely beyond belief!

[nofingershaha]

@wheresbeef its true he only knows the side of the japanese but ultimately he is still anti-war. the fact is what akira kurosawa see is that nothing good came out of the war. yes the japanese did some terrible things and in the process suffered heavily for it too. i honestly prefer kurosawa's opinion to that of some people who now start feeling nostalgic of the war days.

[wheresbeef]

A true master piece. A little background: many japanese people gave their family pet dogs to military to wage brutal wars in Asia. Those dogs were used to track enemies, in some occasions used to tear open the stomaches of captured resistant fighters, and trained and used to launch kamikaze attacks again enemies (like the one in the movie). After war, some family published articles their dearly missed and be loved dogs on newspaper without mentioning the honor those dogs brought to other people

[cblazek23]

Like Jcolinsol, the dog forces him to face his sins. The dog almost resembles Hell but in a self reflection sort of understanding. The tunnel represents the dark part of his life. When finally he "escapes the darkness", the soldiers follow him. That shows that he will never be able to escape the" darkness" or his guilt.

[SiggiNebel]

@cblazek23

What you see is what you get. No doubt, there is a lot of symbolism. But I don't take a fancy to take works of art as riddles that need decrypting to obtain well-defined propositions. This fails both the sensuous quality of art and the ambiguity of artistic symbolism. If, on the other hand, someone actually just wishes to express a plain message he should simply do and not try to sell it in a derisory and arty disguise. 

[cblazek23]

@SiggiNebel I see what you mean.

[cblazek23]

Like Jcolinsol, the dog forces him to face his sins. The dog almost resembles Hell but in a self reflection sort of understanding. The tunnel represents the dark part of his life. When finally he "escapes the darkness", the soldiers follow him. That shows that he will never be able to escape the" darkness" or his guilt.

[christomacin]

could also be a reference to the "dogs of war" from Shakespeare's Julius Caeser.

[christomacin]

best part of the film along with Sunshine Through the Rain.

[christomacin]

A preview of hell

[flizz5]

this story bout anti-war.......

[aversion2k]

Its Rogue Trooper!

Seriously though, this is great, and pretty sad.

[ThaytaXB]

the dog is the simbol of the death world gatekeaper cerberus...and the guilty is the red light in he

ok, i'm not Akira to know what he really intennded to show with this...

i don't know

but i have a homework with this, and i don't understand nothing more!!

[Jcolinsol]

I believe that all of the segments in this film are actually dreams that Kurosawa and his compatriots have had. As I recall, his assistant director or somebody had this dream.

I'd say that the dog is representative of the protagonists own self loathing, forcing him to face up to his sins.

[sisizhe]

the dog is the Far right in japan

the dog will summon the ghost of war

alive and dangerous

[ThaytaXB]

all dead for me. he(commander) was the only one that uderstood that they were all dead, thats why the dog let he stay there and not go to were the others where.

they needed to really acept the dead even by staing in the living ones world....

but off course is the duallity that the commander is being expulsed of the death world.

[ContraTodo]

solo he visto espa parte de la película, este sueño, y me parece taaan bueno, la idea es genial, me conmovió desde el inicio, una de mis películas favoritas.

[OriginalSlipgirl]

No, he was not dead.

In fact the guilty he feels is because everyone else is dead but him.

And he's not blue like the others.

[FlowerExterminator]

In my opinion, the commander was dead.

in fact, he came from the direction where the dead soldiers came from?

He was tortured and maybe he didnt knew that he was also dead and that is why he can also see his dead comrades also the anti-tank dog they used to destroy tanks (the dog is also dead) BTW this is just my opinion ^-^

[pookoos]

My favorite vignette in this amazing film... it really grips me.

[donnykash]

am shooting a music video for a friend soon and i just put her track over this clip and it makes perfect sense, because in her song she is bringing about a mans questioning of his own actions. this is perfect for inspiration, thank you. will upload it as soon as i've finished in a month so look out for it. thanks again.

[futurehope65]

Thank you for putting this up, for me the tunnel sequence captures PTSD.

[mangalese]

This story affected me most. I felt for the man who had to deal with his guilt and the loss of his friends. He was away at war behaving like the dog and now returns home alone. He will not be able to talk over his experiences with his war buddies and like when he turned his back on the dog will turn his back on the memories. It will be the only way to cope. There never will be any closure for him until he rejoins his platoon.

[SatyreDuBois]

One of the best anti-militarism scenes ever, from the vision of a genius.

Thanks!

[cblazek23]

@SatyreDuBois It reminds me a bit of Ivan's Childhood by Andrei Tarkovsky

[BB48]

Cinematic poetry.

[ciudadelafuria]

i am agree with you... he is incredible...

[brendreayn]

this is my fave part of the film .... kurosawa's film is very poetic indeed.