Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows a dramatised scene of Japanese prisoners of war (POWs) preparing to break out of the POW camp near Cowra in NSW in 1944. Hut leader Kamimura (Kuni Hashimoto) encourages the POWs to put the shame of their capture behind them and ‘die like the carp’. An impression of the break-out is created through shouts and machine-gun fire and bullet flashes in the darkness on the screen. The scene shifts to the First World War and Australian soldiers going out on night patrol. They pause as they pass by German POWs sitting on the ground.

Educational value points

• This scene, based on the attempted break-out of Japanese POWs from Cowra in 1944, portrays the severe Japanese code of military honour as hut leader Kamimura incites his men to escape or die with honour. Kamimura, with his steely determination to obliterate the shame of captivity, contrasts with one of the men, who cannot hide his fear. To inspire his men, Kamimura evokes the Yakusuni shrine in Tokyo, which is dedicated to soldiers who died for the Emperor.

• Kamimura refers to the shame of captivity and there is strong evidence that many of the actual POWs at Cowra felt deep shame that they had allowed themselves to be captured. Many had given false names on capture and most expected to be renounced by their families if they survived. They had all read General Hideki Tojo’s decree, called the lesson of the battlefield, which announced that death under any circumstances was better than a life of captivity.

• The confusion of the soundtrack, the blasts of machine-gun fire and the moments of blackness on the screen re-create the first minutes of the break-out as it occurred at the camp. At around 2 am POWs charged towards the planned breakthrough points. A ricocheting bullet had temporarily cut the electricity to the lights of the camp. The machine-gun blasts were fired by two Australian soldiers manning the only machine-gun post.

• Kamimura’s words to the men to fight like the carp or die like the carp reflect an important Japanese tradition and are known to have been spoken on the night of the actual break-out at Cowra. At the time of the break-out a Japanese hut leader, Seiji Ogi, reminded his men of the fighting spirit of the carp, a symbol of the male child in Japan. When the carp comes to die it does not flinch from death.

• The Cowra break-out is the largest POW break-out in modern military history and the clip vividly depicts scenes based on actual events. More than 1,100 Japanese POWs were caught up in a hastily prepared escape plan. Of those, 231 were killed and 334 escaped briefly before being rounded up over the next nine days. Many POWs were killed by their friends in the sort of prior arrangement seen in the clip. Others killed themselves before or during the break-out.

• The last scene in the clip moves back in time to the trenches of the First World War to show German POWs awaiting their fate as the Australian soldiers pass by them. This may be suggesting that during war soldiers on opposing sides share similar traumatic experiences.

We see Kamimura in prison, speaking in Japanese to his fellow prisoners.
Kamimura Finally we can die an honourable death as a soldier, not a prisoner. Kill as many of the enemy as possible. It will obliterate the shame that haunts you.
As he talks, a prisoner holds a machete in his hand.
Kamimura Let’s meet at Yasukuni shrine.
The prisoners shout their confirmation. One of the prisoners is breathing heavily as he turns to speak in Japanese to a fellow prisoner by his side.
Scared prisoner If I fail to kill myself…
Other prisoner I understand.
We see the other prisoner is terrified as well.
Kamimura A Japanese man must be like the carp, its bravery, the way it swims up waterfalls. Tonight we have to fight like the carp. And if we fail and are caught, then we must die like the carp.
We hear the scared prisoner breathing heavily.
Kamimura Understand?
Kamimura places his hand on a prisoner’s shoulder.
Fellow prisoner Yes.
Kamimura Good.
Kamimura shakes the hand of the scared prisoner, who looks at the knife he is holding. The doors open.
Prisoners yell Charge! Die like carp!
In the darkness and confusion we hear men yelling and the sound of gunfire.

The screen goes black to signify a flashback. We see a soldier walking in a First World War trench. Scared soldiers in the trench look up at him. The soldier walks on.