The Fighter Pilot

2015 • 143 minutes

About this movie

Kentaro Saeki (Haruma Miura) has failed his bar exam again. Unsure of his way in life, he then learns at his grandmother's funeral that his grandfather he thought of as a blood relative was none of the sort. His real grandfather, Kyuzo Miyabe (Junichi Okada), perished at the end of the World War II in a last minute Kamikaze mission at the controls of his Zero fighter. Kentaro embarks on a search for the identity of his real grandfather. However, his visits to war veteran colleagues of his grandfather yield only the grim report that he was the biggest coward in the whole navy. It appears that despite being a matchless pilot, he was more focused on making it home than taking part in combat. When the dogfights developed, he opted to avoid getting caught up in them and flew away. His motivation turns out to have been the singular promise he made to his wife Matsuno (Mao Inoue) to return home to the family at any cost. The big mystery is then why such a man would volunteer for a Kamikaze mission? As Kentaro draws nearer to those who took part in the final events of Miyabe's life, he learns just what drove the man. In this way, the message that Miyabe committed to with his life, is finally bequeathed to a new generation. The question then becomes one of whether Kentaro will accept what the past has to tell him or not. 2013 TOHO CO.,LTD.

Ratings and reviews

My rating concerns Google service, not the film, as we are not able to watch it. Can only watch it on YouTube, as it's 'age restricted', but YouTube keeps displaying an error and offers reporting it. I reported this error 4 times, on two TV sets. Then, tried to apply for a refund, was refused it. Talking to customer service, found out that Google doesn't support the UK?!!! This is my absolutely worst experience ever! Never will buy anything from Google play again.

Another great war movie from a Japanese point of view. It's my favourite Japanese World War 2 movie since The Admiral.

A Brilliant film, very emotional and very accurate. Loved it.