Osaru no Sankichi: Totsugeki-tai

Rate a 7
English subbed
art film
Silent film aside from background music
Special note: this appears to be a two episode show. For it stops with a the end notice only to resume. Something to keep note of.

Story
No story per-say more action. A story would have plot. This just tells what you see not really focusing on the w's:who, what, when,why. A more elaborated introduction would be needed if the goal of this film was to provide a message. Ending of the film was appropriate.

Art
... -black and white
-characters are clear

Sound
- while only music based it is still entertaining. There was wonderful use of the right instruments at right key moments such as tension, suspense and so forth.
-There also wasn't any noticeable static emission sound.

Character-doesn't apply

Enjoyment
A good quick action film. While not kid friendly given the use of violence even though it is cartoon styled can send off the wrong message. Something alone the lines of war is good.

There's very little context here. We are directly placed into what appears to be a battlefront theatre between Bears (ostensibly representing pre soviet Russia) and the monkeys ( whom the title suggests were storm troopers from Imperial Germany). These storm troops were trained as shock infantry who employed precision infiltration tactics that seems visually representative of what happened in the movie.

I suspect that this short film was extremely anti-war in its message. In an environment of the world still suffering from the consequences of the first world war, we have a short that describes the eastern front of trench warfare between the the Russian Empire ... and the Austro-Hungarian empire. The constant refrain I got from the film was how entrenched warfare was prolonged, surreal and ultimately meaningless - with bloodshed and loss of life being a hallmark on both sides. Knowing Mitsuyo Seo's political inclinations makes this all more salient and kind of tragic that he was later coerced into making propaganda films for a state that eventually turned into a war engine.