Rocky waves of the ocean meet the soft shoreline of Okinawa, Japan. Its waters are rough yet clear, and the coral reefs are slowly coming back to life. One can imagine sitting along the cliff-side, soaking in a perfect sunset fit for a postcard or a vacation post on social media.
Yet, the landscape hardly resembles the echoes of horrors it once endured – that these same shores were ground zero for an 82-day conflict between U.S. troops and Japanese regime during World War II.
It should go without saying that the legacy of war is all-encompassing – from every day civilians who felt called to serve their country, to the civilians caught in crossfire between nations at war, and the land that it cannot speak for itself. To tackle the three together is difficult and ambitious, but Frog Fathers 2: Last Battle of the Pacific, similar to its predecessor, Frog Fathers: Lessons from the Normandy Surf, takes the challenge on.
It should go without saying that the legacy of war is all-encompassing – from every day civilians who felt called to serve their country, to the civilians caught in crossfire between nations at war, and the land that it cannot speak for itself. To tackle the three together is difficult and ambitious, but Frog Fathers 2: Last Battle of the Pacific, similar to its predecessor, Frog Fathers: Lessons from the Normandy Surf, takes the challenge on.
Part of understanding the mechanics of past international conflicts is to start at the beginning – how and why were the coral reefs in Okinawa destroyed. Through archival material, interviews with historians, and accounts from veterans, the documentary weaves a chronological timeline of the United States facing the German and Axis powers. As radical nationalism was rising in Japan, the United States ventured to the far reaches of the Pacific after the attack on Pearl Harbor. To siege control on land also meant overcoming obstacles at sea. While facing violent assaults at every turn along the coastlines, Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs) prepared the way for American amphibious assaults by understanding the hydrography of the coral reefs across Japanese home islands - Marianas, Guam, Tinian, Saipan, and Okinawa – and then blowing them up, essentially leaving the underwater environment destroyed in their wake.
Where Frog Fathers differs in traditional war documentaries is in its gesture to do more than exclusively look backwards. In an effort to give back to the islands their forefathers destroyed, a team of Navy Seals, Marines, and a Green Beret participate in restoration efforts, on behalf of a non-profit organization Force Blue, to rebuild the very reefs once damaged during the oceanic fighting. From there, the Battle of Okinawa becomes more than about military strategy as the group travels from the National World War II Museum in New Orleans to Okinawa. Facts become memories as archivists, coral restoration locals, and relatives of survivors now shape the devastation that occurred at home with rebuilding.
Where Frog Fathers differs in traditional war documentaries is in its gesture to do more than exclusively look backwards. In an effort to give back to the islands their forefathers destroyed, a team of Navy Seals, Marines, and a Green Beret participate in restoration efforts, on behalf of a non-profit organization Force Blue, to rebuild the very reefs once damaged during the oceanic fighting. From there, the Battle of Okinawa becomes more than about military strategy as the group travels from the National World War II Museum in New Orleans to Okinawa. Facts become memories as archivists, coral restoration locals, and relatives of survivors now shape the devastation that occurred at home with rebuilding.
Though the campaign only lasted four months, it was devastating for everyone caught in its path. Under the pressure of widespread fear-based propaganda, great waves of Okinawans' civilian population was conscripted into committing mass suicide, used as laborers, or exposed to extraordinary danger by both sides. The documentary's most affecting moments comes from the preservation of personal testimonies - young girls becoming nurses to injured soldiers performing operations by candlelight in caves and displaced families on the run for refuge.
Through the horrors of war, the group of servicemen of today meet and learn from the survivors of Okinawa's bloodied history. As the team visits archives, memorials, and former battle sites, both on land and at sea, history becomes more than a collection of military victories, casualty figures, or strategic decisions. The coral restoration offers an opportunity to make up for the devastation that may have happened once but quietly lives on underneath and over the surface.
One of the documentary's few drawbacks is the subtle backdrop of patriotic exceptionalism. It's understandable that the film would aim to focus on solely on the Battle of Okinawa, given the limited running time and the weight of the topics. Only delving into the Japanese' empires actions against the U.S. and its own people, without also including the discrimination and incarceration of Japanese Americans on U.S. soil (as a result of more predicated racial prejudice) can be argued as a selective blind-spot. Several commentary scenes with the veterans selected for the coral reef restoration project lean closely to celebrating American military identity as proud liberators as well as demolitioneers, which also shifts away from the film's tense focus on sacrifice and redemption. Inclusion of an important part of World War II history wouldn't diminish the sacrifices of American servicemen or excuse the atrocities by Japanese military. Rather it would reinforce one of the documentary's central messages – that no nation is entirely immune to wartime and fear-based ideology.
What Frog Fathers 2: Last Battle of the Pacific succeeds the best at is understanding the enormous human cost of military victory. The legacy of war is typically examined through the lens of what was destroyed; very rarely to what is being rebuilt. Delving into the historical remembrance to build a bridge between present-day servicemen and civilians is treated with detailed reverence and respect. While the world still seems to be inclined to remain at war, newer generations find themselves following a similar calling their ancestors and military forefathers once held - only now in memory and preservation. By keeping the past alive, we give history a voice of its own and allow its wounds the chance to heal.
“They didn't know what they were getting into, but the world was on fire.”
Similarly, Force Blue has also produced a predecessor documentary, Frog Fathers: Lessons from the Normandy Surf. The film chronicles the harrowing display of courage amid unimaginable carnage, as four Navy SEAL veterans retrace the footsteps of Naval Combat Demolition Units who helped prepare the landing for D-Day. Both documentaries are available on select platforms in the U.S. and Canada.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Note: This review is provided with the availability of a screener. All opinions are my own.
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