Tora Tora Tora: historical analysis and cultural significance

Tora Tora Tora

Tora! Tora! Tora! is a 1970 war film directed by Richard Fleischer, Toshio Masuda, and Kinji Fukasaku. The film is a dramatization of the preparations taken by the Japanese Imperial Navy as they planned their attack on Pearl Harbor, and the lack of preparations on behalf of the United States. Tora! Tora! Tora! presents the events leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 from two distinct perspectives, the Japanese and the United States.

The film begins by explaining what prompted the Japanese to begin preparing an attack on the United States, an embargo that prevented the United States from exporting raw materials to Japan and adversely affected the country. The film also illustrates that it was during this time that Japan began negotiations with Germany and subsequently signed the Tri-Partite Pact with Germany and Italy and formally became a member of the Axis Powers. Soon after, the Japanese begin to plan their attack on Pearl Harbor, quickly realizing that they will have to modify their torpedoes if they want to attack the United States with the missiles.

While the Japanese are busy preparing an attack, the United States' failure to prepare for an imminent enemy attack is also seen. While American intelligence officers have successfully broken the Japanese's "Purple Code" and begin to intercept Japanese transmissions, they do not appear to be too worried about Japan's preparations, but slightly increase patrols on Pearl Harbor.

The Japanese in charge of strategizing and carrying out the attack on Pearl Harbor are Air Staff Officer Minoru Genda, played by Tatsuya Mihashi, and Mitsuo Fuchida, played by Takahiro Tamura. At the same time the Japanese are preparing to attack the United States, tensions continue to increase between the United States and Japan, especially as negotiations for peace begin to falter. The situation increasingly gets worse as the Japanese Ambassador to the United States fails to submit Japan's formal declaration of war; it is revealed at the end of the film that the attack on Pearl Harbor took place 55 minutes before war was declared and as such the only thing the Japanese did was "awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

The United States' incompetence in handling the threat on Pearl Harbor can be seen through a variety of officers including Chief of Naval Operations Harold R. Stark, played by Edward Andrews, who feels it is not necessary to inform Pearl Harbor of the increased threat against them until he "confirms" with the President. Even after a submarine is destroyed after it has breached the United States' security zone, Captain John Earle, played by Richard Anderson, refuses to take action until it has been confirmed that the submarine was an enemy ship. Likewise, Army Air Force Lieutenant Kermit Tyler dismisses a report of incoming Japanese aircraft and asserts that the aircraft are actually B-17 bombers the Navy is expecting; this dismissal not only causes the Navy to be unprepared for the attack, but also causes the B-17 bombers to fly into the middle of a war zone, unable to help defend the United States in the skies because they carry no ammunition and are running low on gasoline. As the United States has repeatedly dismissed the visible threat that was posed by the enemy, they were caught completely off guard and were slow to respond to the attack. As a result most of the major United States airfields are destroyed, sunk four battleships, and damaged three others.