永遠的0

　　這部電影，推薦搭配風起服用。對於沒什麼自產軍武概念和動機的我們來說，對於零式戰鬥機的共鳴大概會薄弱許多吧。其實我們是有自產戰機經國號(F-CK-1)的—某些層面上這兩型戰機的命運還有點像—不過再講下去就扯遠了。

　

　　零式戰鬥機在1939年由三菱重工設計並完成原型機，在那個空軍快速轉型中的年代，零式戰鬥機被要求在空中纏鬥有良好的表現，還有要能夠飛得很遠。不過那個年代日本的工藝水準遠遠落後歐美諸國，不論是機身的強度、嚴整性、或者是發動機的性能都有將近一個時代的差距。所以為了滿足纏鬥的需求和長航程，零式放棄了大部分的裝甲和機身的穩定性，在試作機時期還發生過許多次空中解體，最後完成了在太平洋戰爭初期能夠和美國空軍比肩的戰機。雖然在設計上和德軍當時的戰鬥機有些相似，但還是算日本完全自製的戰鬥機。不過零式戰機的好日子並沒有持續太久……如果說好日子真的有發生過的話。

　

　　好吧，總之永遠的0是一部演得很用力的電影，帶有那種從開始就打算讓你哭的氣味。故事從外婆的過世開始，引出外婆曾經改嫁的往事。

　　「那麼，原來的外公是怎麼樣的人？」

　　『他是帝國海軍的恥辱，航空隊裡第一的膽小鬼，他只在乎他自己的生命，因為他的懦弱，我們損失了無數的友機。』

　

　　看到這裡，突然想起宮部美幸的蒲生邸事件。是教育的關係嗎？日本的創作當中，對於二次世界大戰經常描繪出基於種種不同原因而抱著反戰思想的角色，營造出「日本國民並不求戰」的氣味：不管是因為「理性的去分析你不覺得打不贏嗎？(蒲生邸事件)」、「這樣的戰爭對我們有什麼好處呢？(東京小屋的回憶)」、或者是在這部電影裡主角外公的「戰爭的結果不是我死或不死能改變的，比起戰死，我覺得活下來是更困難的，我要回去見我的家人。」

　　這樣的寫法固然不會錯，一心想打仗的人在哪個年代都只是少數吧，但對於戰勝歡欣鼓舞的人大概也是，常營造這樣的主角總顯得有些太過冷靜出世了。

　

　　不過你看，對於一個小國來說，從日俄、甲午到二次大戰，那不是個很美的夢嗎？在列強的壓迫下，能夠維持住自己國家的樣貌，趕上他國的長處，進而以小搏大。小時候，對於台灣這樣的小小島嶼在世界的科技產品裡能有那麼高的市佔、對於王建民站上大聯盟成為先發投手宰制他隊打者、對於HTC成為Android系統裡市佔最高的供應商、對於TPA在LOL的世界大賽裡完全不被看好的拿下冠軍……

　　是啊，這些事情的確是不染血的(真的嗎？)，但是透過電視、透過報紙所看到的戰爭，血的氣味又有多重呢？

　

　　但是夢總是很脆弱的。隨著空戰策略的改變，纏鬥不再是主流，零式戰鬥機的裝甲和動力問題馬上變得非常明顯；而在中途島海戰後，日軍不論是高素質飛官的折損、機體性能的落後、情報的被破譯、雷達性能的極大落差，日軍航空隊的童話也就再也寫不下去化為灰燼，而在時代的火焰裡，不管是主角的外公無比珍視的家人或是性命，也都只有燒毀的分了。

　

　　剩下的東西，怎麼寫都是戰史了，所以就這樣吧。

　

　


I recommend you to watch “The Wind Rises （風立ちぬ)” before this one. For Taiwanese people, who have little sense and desperation about designing and building our own weapon, there may be a little bit lack of appreciation to the story of A6M Zero(零戦). In fact, Taiwan has our own fighter, F-CK-1, which shares some similarities to A6M Zero, but that is another story.

　

For background knowledge, A6M Zero was designed and built by Mitsubishi in 1939. Back in the days when air force strategy was transforming fast, it was designed to have good dogfight capability and a very long travel distance. Nevertheless, due to the lag of industrial technique, A6M Zero made a compromise on its armor and stability to acquire those features, and its engine also fell behind the level of what European countries and the U.S. had. With all those sacrifice, Japan finally had there own fighter capable of fighting their U.S. and China counterpart.

A6M Zero’s good days did not last long, even if the good days had ever come.

　

Back to the movie. It is one with very high tension. I believe one of the things the plot was designed for was to make you cry. It began with the funeral of our hero’s grandmother, and that led to the story about her first marriage.

　　“Okay. So what kind of person was our ‘first’ grandfather?”

　　“He was the shame of Imperial Japan Navy, the number 1 coward in the fighter squad who only cared about his own fucking life. We lost countless bomber jets because of his cowardice…”

　

As the story went on, we found that this “grandpa” was the real hero, who believed “The result of the war is not changed by whether I survived or died in ‘glory’, and it’s often more difficult to stay alive than to die. I WILL survive the war to see my family again.”

　

　This grandpa, Kyuzo Miyabe, reminded me of the novel The Gamou Residence Event (蒲生邸事件) by Miyuki Miyabe. In Japanese literature and movie, I often read about anti-war characters in the setting of WWII. The reason is pretty diverse: “If you think with your wit don’t you think we cannot win this war? (The Gamou Residence Event)”, “Does this war make our country a better one? Does it bring us better life? (The Little House)”, and what our hero believed.

This prospect of narration is fine. I believe in any given time, those who want desperately for war are minority, but on the other hand, when the battle is in favor of “us”, it’s too difficult not to celebrate and feel good. Therefore, this kind of antiwar character is too distant and too reasonable for me.

　

For a tiny country to fight and win against Russia, China, and -for sometime, for someone- the U.S., wouldn’t it be a terrific dream? Under the pressure of those “developed” countries, they could keep there country as the way it was, could even catch up with the cutting-edge techniques other country had (to some extent), and they fought and “won” for some period of time.

　

“Victory" is always a beautiful word, isn’t it?

　

I can somewhat imagine. That must be like what I felt when I was young, and just learned that we, Taiwan, tiny as it was, had a giant share on the technology product market; like what I experienced when I watched CY Wang striking out batters in MLB with his sinker; like what I enjoyed when HTC made no.1 on Android phone market; or like the way we cheered when TPA won LOL World Championship.

Yes, all the experiences I mentioned are not stained with blood. But with the war on TV and news paper, did the blood-stained victory seem bloody to civilians then?

　

However, dreams are fragile. With development of air force fighting skills, dogfight was abandoned, and this made the thin armor and low speed of A6M Zero its deadly weakness. On a larger scale, after the battle of Midway, Imperial Japan Navy suffered seriously from its unstoppable loss of experienced pilot, its outdated fighter jet, its leak of intelligence due to its cracked code, and its lack of radar technology. The fairy tale of the strong Imperial Japan Navy faded, and along with that, the life and hope of the hero were crushed by the tide of war.

　

And, the rest of what I want to say is history. So be it.