WWII in HD: Day of Days (2009)
**** (out of 4)
Film number five in The History Channels amazing documentary series is without question the best and most haunting. We start off with the invasion of Saipan, which had an amazing 127,000 American troops on the ground. We also learn about the amazing battle over the Philippine Sea where over 370 Japanese planes were brought down with only a little over 30 American ones. The final and most haunting segment focuses on Mapi Point where over a thousand Japanese civilians committed suicide by jumping off cliffs, slashing their children's throats and various other ways just so they wouldn't have to surrender. This film is rather amazing as there are so many highs and an incredible low that ends the film. The patriotic sense of the first half is certainly very high as it's rather amazing to see how well the American strategy was working in regards to Saipan and the various battles that would follow it. Seeing the plan to wipe out the small islands off a Japan to make way for a future attack on Tokyo was extremely interesting to watch and again we get all the glorious footage in color. There are some truly breath taking scenes including some fiery planes crashing into the ocean but what really caught my eye was the orange reflection in the clear blue water. Some of the leftover stuff from the previous episode on D-Day seems to really get overlooked here as they skip talking too much about the actual battle and move forward to weeks after wards. The final minutes take a look at the suicides and this here is without question some of the hardest footage I've seen and I'd almost recommend people not to watch this. There are many graphic shots of the dead lying on the rocks below the cliff and many children as well. Hearing the stories of parents killing their children was pretty hard to take and there's even one woman who drown herself while giving birth. There's one woman whose jump is captured on film and the aftermath to all of this is quite hard to take. Through all of this pain, there's actually a very heartwarming scene as well and that's one where the American soldiers are helping some Japanese civilians with one soldier holding a sick Japanese boys. It's footage like this that makes one shake their head about the lies the Japanese government was telling their people to make them want to kill themselves and their children.
