Blood Oath

Ambon Island, Indonesia, 1946: dejected Japanese PoWs lead members of the Australian Army Legal Corps to a hidden clearing where scores of Australian PoWs were executed by prison camp guards. What follows is run-of-the-mill courtroom drama as Captain Robert Cooper (Brown, predictably curt), the hard-line prosecutor assigned to the war crimes case, questions suspects: Vice-Admiral Baron Takahashi (Takei, impressive), his sadistic underling Captain Ikeuchi (Watanabe), and a young Japanese signals officer (Shioya). The result may be of historical interest to those unfamiliar with some of the lesser-known details of WWII, and goes some way towards highlighting cultural differences and opposing views of war. Jason Donovan makes his big screen debut: two minutes and the immortal line, 'Do you need anything?' Quite.