Hell in the Pacific

Two men are on a deserted Pacific island: a downed American pilot and a Japanese officer washed ashore. The island is empty, water is scarce and neither is armed. They do not share a language. First they hunt, then they take each other prisoner, then they have to build a raft together. The subject is not war but how much work it takes to maintain enmity. The two fight out of habit alone; the island demands nothing of them and the war stays outside. When cooperation begins, nobody says why. The form is two actors and a landscape. The Japanese officer's speech is not subtitled; the viewer understands no more than the American does, and that choice sets the film's entire balance. Conrad Hall's cinematography shoots the island almost as documentary. The ending is contested. The finale John Boorman shot was disliked by the studio and replaced; the ending in the released version was not his intention and is the film's most criticised element. It circulated in different countries with different endings. Lee Marvin and Toshirō Mifune are the only two actors. Each performs in his own language and communication on set ran through an interpreter. Who it is for: viewers who like two-hander survival stories and anti-war films. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a satisfying close; the finale was plainly imposed from outside.