This film may be a bit unrealistic with the gist of the film being about four (4) pre-teen boys who spend their summer vacation riding on their bicycles around their Califormia suburb neighborhood pretending to be soldiers capturing and killing each other, until they run smack dab into a real life Japanese soldier who is injured and rather than reporting the enemy to the authorities they develop sympathy for him and choose to bring him food and water and hide him in their abandoned factory make believe fortress.
The film does remind us of the air raids that were underway during world war 2 and how every citizen with even a fraction of Japanese heritage needed to be rounded up, their property sold, and placed in internment camps. The acting was above par, the vintage scenery and automobiles of the era were fun reminiscing, and the story does have a happy ending for three (3) of the four (4) boys. The fourth boy was Japanese and he had to say goodbye to his neighborhood buddies as his family was rounded up and placed in a camp. As for the wounded Japanese soldier, there is a (sort of) happy ending for him which I won't divulge but I will say the film is worth a watch to remind us all how war is hell.
The film does remind us of the air raids that were underway during world war 2 and how every citizen with even a fraction of Japanese heritage needed to be rounded up, their property sold, and placed in internment camps. The acting was above par, the vintage scenery and automobiles of the era were fun reminiscing, and the story does have a happy ending for three (3) of the four (4) boys. The fourth boy was Japanese and he had to say goodbye to his neighborhood buddies as his family was rounded up and placed in a camp. As for the wounded Japanese soldier, there is a (sort of) happy ending for him which I won't divulge but I will say the film is worth a watch to remind us all how war is hell.