I saw the movie dubbed version in german, when it reached the theaterin our military barracks at Luetjenburg in Sleswig Holstein/W.germany. Iy stuck to my mind ever since. It is a well craftet war picture, seen from the japanese perspective. It inspired me to also read Sabukuo Sakai's account. I bought the book 10 years later, to read about his wartime experience as a WW2 japanese fighter pilot. The movie kept very close to the book, and stuck to the facts. The airbattles are suspensefull and detailed, as good as in the movie Midway, but with a much smaller budged. Sabukuo Sakai got seriously wounded over the airbattle of Guadalcanal. Shot in the head, he had to manage to fly his zero fighter plane, back to his base at rabaul. His struggle to survive is impressive to watch. Sitting in a damaged cockpit, the front window smashed up and bloodstained, fighting to loose conciousness, keeping the aircraft under control and to keep track of navigation. I voted for this movie a 9 out of 10.
