The Great War of Archimedes
Poster for the movie, in Japanese
Release poster
Original titleアルキメデスの大戦
Directed byTakashi Yamazaki
Written byTakashi Yamazaki
Produced byShūji Abe
Starring
Narrated byHitoshi Kubota
CinematographyKōzō Shibasaki
Edited byRyûji Miyajima
Music byNaoki Satō
Distributed byToho
Release date
  • 26 July 2019 (2019-07-26)
Running time
130 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Box office¥1.93 billion ($17.7 million)[1]

The Great War of Archimedes (アルキメデスの大戦, Arukimedesu no taisen) is a 2019 Japanese historical film directed and written by Takashi Yamazaki. Concerning the building of the battleship Yamato, the film is based on a manga by Norifusa Mita. It is a fictionalized telling of the political maneuvers, specifically pertaining to budget and cost issues, that led to the decision to build the Yamato. The movie was dubbed into various languages and distributed worldwide. Archimedes, famous for Lever and Fulcrum, was quoted, Give me a place to stand and I will move the earth. The cost of a project, like the choice to carry it out, is like Archimedes’ fulcrum: a solidity around which the world must swing, whether to success or destruction. Hence the name.

Plot

To replace an aging battleship, a new super battleship (the future Yamato) is proposed to the Navy. Admirals Yamamoto and Nagano believe that battleships are becoming obsolete, and advocate building a new aircraft carrier instead, but they are opposed by the Navy's old guard.

Yamamoto and Nagano enlist Tadashi Kai, an eccentric, headstrong, and pacifist mathematics prodigy on the autism spectrum with an obsession for measuring things. Kai is at first unwilling to help Yamamoto and Nagano, but becomes convinced that a super battleship will be seen by other nations as an aggressive threat, leading Japan and the world toward war, and agrees to work for them.

Much of the film revolves around Kai's efforts to prove that the cost of the Yamato will be much higher than its designers claim. This he finally does, using mathematical formulas that, in a dramatic scene, are shown to be very accurate when applied to the cost of earlier ships. Kai thus demonstrates that the battleship will cost about double the estimate. But battleship champion Shigetarō Shimada, when caught in his lie, appeals to patriotism: he had deliberately underestimated the cost of the battleship so that it would be approved, as he believed it to be vitally necessary for the Navy. Shimada's scheme was to underpay the shipyard for the cost of the battleship, making up the difference by overpaying for some cruisers. Despite the exposed fraud, the proposal to the build the Yamato is approved.[2][3][4][5]

Cast

Production

Voice actors for the dubbing into English include Luis Bermudez, Brent Mukai, Lizzy Laurenti, and Dylan Mobley.

Accolades

At the 2020 Japanese Academy Awards, Tasuku Emoto was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category, and Masaki Suda was nominated in the Best Actor category, for their work in this film.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "2019". Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
  2. ↑ Panos Kotzathanasis (June 2, 2021). "Film Review: The Great War of Archimedes (2019) by Takashi Yamazaki". Asian Movie Pulse. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  3. ↑ Anthony Kao (June 3, 2021). "Review: 'The Great War of Archimedes' Critiques Japanese Conservatism... Using Math". Cinema Escapist. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  4. ↑ James Barber (April 29, 2021). "Japanese War Movie Aims to Reveal the Secrets of WWII Battleship Yamato". Military.com. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  5. ↑ Roger Moore (May 26, 2021). "Movie Review: To build or not to build a WWII battleship hinges on 'The Great War of Archimedes'". Movie Nation. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  6. 1 2 "アルキメデスの大戦" [The Great War of Archimedes]. Eiga.com (in Japanese). Retrieved December 16, 2021.
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