Wings of Defeat Screening at Villanova
Poster for the movie "Wings of Defeat"
Maria has been working hard organizing this year’s conference for the Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies, which is being hosted at Villanova. This includes a special screening of Wings of Defeat, hosted by the director Risa Morimoto, as well as a panel of World War II veterans, who will discuss the film and their experiences fighting in the Pacific.
Wings of Defeat brings viewers behind the scenes of World War II’s Pacific theater to reveal the truth about the Kamikaze—the “suicide bombers” of their day. Interviews with surviving kamikaze, rare battle footage and Japanese propaganda reveal a side of WWII never before shown on film. American vets from the greatest generation tell harrowing tales of how they survived attacks. Wings of Defeat shatters the myth of the fanatical kamikaze to reveal a generation of men forced to pay for an empire’s pride with their lives.
The screening is Sunday, November 1 at 3:30 PM, at Villanova’s Connelly Center Cinema (campus map and directions). Admission is free with any valid student ID (not just Villanova) – all others $5.
Here is the trailer (alternate link):
When we were in Japan 2 years ago, we met Master sushi chef Shigeo Mori. He had trained as a kamikaze pilot. He was scheduled to fly near the very end of the war, but a B-29 blew up his plane on the runaway before he got in it. Since the Japanese had such a shortage of planes and supplies at this point, there were no planes left for him to fly. He said he was incredibly relieved, as he definitely did not want to go.
