Blood Oath
The island of Ambon in Indonesia, 1945. During the War, the number of Australian POWs on the island had dropped from 1100 to less than 300 due to abuses by their Japanese captors. Capt. Cooper is the…
Blood Oath
The island of Ambon in Indonesia, 1945. During the War, the number of Australian POWs on the island had dropped from 1100 to less than 300 due to abuses by their Japanese captors. Capt. Cooper is the chief prosecutor. In a mass grave, the bodies of 300 executed servicemen have been unearthed. Cooper assumes that the massacre was ordered by Baron Takahashi, Japanese commander on Ambon. But the one potential witness has gone mad and is due to be shipped back to Australia. No captured airmen were found alive on the island at all, not even the four-man crew of a reconnaissance plane shot down late in the War. Takahashi is returned to the island in the custody of an American officer, Maj. Beckett. But there is little evidence with which to prosecute the Baron. Cooper thinks he could make a case for the missing airmen if only their bodies could be located. And why does Maj. Beckett appear interested in not seeing Takahashi convicted? Cooper gets a break when Lt. Tanaka, a communications officer and a Christian, surrenders himself... —David Stanko While rummaging through his father's garage, Screenwriter Brian A. Williams uncovered a forgotten piece of Australian history - inside an old shoebox he found transcripts of the largest war crime trial ever conducted, larger even than the famous Nuremberg trials; along with photos of human skulls and graves. These transcripts unlocked the startling true story behind wartime atrocities and controversial trials held in 1946 on the island of Ambon...the planned launching pad for the Japanese invasion of Australia. The stories of the sadistic beatings, torture and mass murder sent shockwaves through the ensuing trials, culminating in an exposive showdown between Australian justice, American Politics and the Japanese code of honour. —Australian DVD Sleeve Notes On an obscure Pacific Island just north of Australia, the Japanese Empire has operated a prisoner of war camp for Australian soldiers. At the close of World War II, the liberated POWs tell a gruesome tale of mass executions of over eight hundred persons as well as torture style killings of downed Australian airmen. In an attempt to bring those responsible to justice, the Australian Army establishes a War Crimes Tribunal to pass judgement on the Japanese men and officers who ran the Ambon camp. In an added twist, a high ranking Japanese admiral is implicated, and politics become involoved with justice as American authorities in Japan lobby for the Admiral's release. —Anthony Hughes <husnock31@hotmail.com>
Blood Oath
Drama,War
Film Details
The island of Ambon in Indonesia, 1945. During the War, the number of Australian POWs on the island had dropped from 1100 to less than 300 due to abuses by their Japanese captors. Capt.
Cooper is the chief prosecutor. In a mass grave, the bodies of 300 executed servicemen have been unearthed. Cooper assumes that the massacre was ordered by Baron Takahashi, Japanese commander on Ambon.
But the one potential witness has gone mad and is due to be shipped back to Australia. No captured airmen were found alive on the island at all, not even the four-man crew of a reconnaissance plane shot down late in the War. Takahashi is returned to the island in the custody of an American officer, Maj.
Beckett. But there is little evidence with which to prosecute the Baron. Cooper thinks he could make a case for the missing airmen if only their bodies could be located.
And why does Maj. Beckett appear interested in not seeing Takahashi convicted? Cooper gets a break when Lt. Tanaka, a communications officer and a Christian, surrenders himself...
—David Stanko While rummaging through his father's garage, Screenwriter Brian A. Williams uncovered a forgotten piece of Australian history - inside an old shoebox he found transcripts of the largest war crime trial ever conducted, larger even than the famous Nuremberg trials; along with photos of human skulls and graves. These transcripts unlocked the startling true story behind wartime atrocities and controversial trials held in 1946 on the island of Ambon...the planned launching pad for the Japanese invasion of Australia.
The stories of the sadistic beatings, torture and mass murder sent shockwaves through the ensuing trials, culminating in an exposive showdown between Australian justice, American Politics and the Japanese code of honour. —Australian DVD Sleeve Notes On an obscure Pacific Island just north of Australia, the Japanese Empire has operated a prisoner of war camp for Australian soldiers. At the close of World War II, the liberated POWs tell a gruesome tale of mass executions of over eight hundred persons as well as torture style killings of downed Australian airmen.
In an attempt to bring those responsible to justice, the Australian Army establishes a War Crimes Tribunal to pass judgement on the Japanese men and officers who ran the Ambon camp. In an added twist, a high ranking Japanese admiral is implicated, and politics become involoved with justice as American authorities in Japan lobby for the Admiral's release. —Anthony Hughes <husnock31@hotmail.com>.