TOKYO: A major Japanese film about the dramatic sinking of a battleship in the Second World War has provoked anger among Japan’s former enemies because of its sympathetic portrayal of the ship’s crew. Yamato: The Last Battle, which is expected to pack cinemas across Japan when it goes on general release next weekend, tells the story of the biggest battleship ever built, which was sunk by the Americans in 1945 with the loss of all but 300 of its 3,000 crew, most of whom were teenagers.

More than 260 metres long and weighing 64,000 tonnes, the Yamato was commissioned days after Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. It was equipped with a formidable array of weapons and was touted as imperial Japan’s saviour in the face of the allied onslaught in the final months of the war. When it left port for the last time on April 6 1945, its brief was to destroy the American forces off Okinawa and prevent an invasion of mainland Japan.

But the Yamato never got near its target. By this stage, Japan’s leaders knew the war was all but lost. The vessel even left port without enough fuel for the return trip. Soon after being spotted by US submarines south of the Japanese mainland, it came under ferocious attack by 390 US planes. Within a few hours it listed, exploded and sank off the coast of Kyushu in southwest Japan.

The ship and its hapless final hours have a certain resonance in the Japanese national psyche. For some that final mission was the epitome of youthful sacrifice, while others viewed it as an act of unforgivable folly by a leadership that already knew the war was lost.

But elsewhere in Asia the $25m film risks evoking bitter memories of the war and accusations that Japan refuses to recognise the costs of its wartime experiment with ultra-nationalism. The film, one of the most expensive in Japanese cinematic history, barely mentions the origins of the war or the events leading up to the ship’s doomed final mission. The makers of the film make no apologies for their positive portrayal of the crew, whom producer Haruki Kadokawa calls the war’s “nameless victims”.

The director, Junya Sato, urged people outside Japan not to confuse sympathy for the Yamato’s crew with support for Japan’s wartime policies. “[They should] focus on the thinking of the time and show that those who take power through force will lose it in the same way, that these were young and innocent people sent to their deaths, and that it is clear those who bore the responsibility for that were the political leaders,” he said.

There is no guarantee that message will resonate in countries that suffered at the hands of the Japanese, particularly at a time of mounting diplomatic tension in the region. China and South Korea believe that Japan has not shown genuine remorse for its wartime conduct. This year they have repeatedly criticised school textbooks that gloss over the worst excesses of Japanese militarism and called on the Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, to end his annual visits to a shrine that honours war criminals among other Japanese war dead. Anti-Japanese riots broke out in several Chinese cities this spring.

Mr Kadokawa said he was aware that the film had sparked anger in China even before its release. “[There were] even erroneous reports that we were actually building a full-size, real Yamato,” he said. “I feel very strongly that the anti-Japanese demonstrators were acting without knowing about Japan and it was the result of government propaganda.”

He said he hoped that when Chinese and Korean viewers watched the film they would better understand Japanese culture. “My message is about people’s courage to live, and I want people to start thinking again about how to live with self-awareness and pride as Japanese,” he said.

The film is expected to be a massive box-office hit in Japan. —Dawn/The Guardian News Service