Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle

One of those apocryphal seeming true stories that feels too good to be true is given an unfortunately flat and slow-moving presentation, though Endô and Tsuda’s convincing (and complementary) performances at least provide a solid spine to this long and ultimately repetitive telling. Excellent wildlife filming, and the story’s inherent interest, can’t quite sustain three hours worth of storytelling.

Truth really is stranger than fiction. The whole is an epic journey through decades but the film creates the sense of Onoda navigating one day at a time -Beautiful wide vistas contrast with a sense of claustrophobia.

In the intro to Werner Herzog's new book "The Twilight World" he writes about having had the chance to meet the Japanese Emperor and instead opting to see Hiroo Onoda. Concurrently, a young French filmmaker follows the master's footsteps and makes an emotionally charged, traditionally satisfying adventure that even Herzog himself couldn't pull off nowadays. The madness of the jungle manifests. Ripe for various metaphorical readings, Harari still lets the ellipses of time speak for themselves.