They were ordered to fight to the last man, woman, and child.

It is spring, 1945. The war is going badly for the Empire of Japan. Outnumbered and outgunned, the soldiers of the Empire are being forced back, island by island, towards the homeland.

All that stands between the heavy boots of the Allies and the sacred soil of Japan is Japan's oldest colony, the Islands of Okinawa. And the defenders of those islands, despite being stripped of men and supplies by an increasingly desperate Imperial Army Headquarters, are determined (and have been ordered) to fight to the death, and sell their lives for a very high price.

Thus begins the story of the largest amphibious assault of the Pacific War, pitting 200,000 battle-hardened American troops against 77,000 Japanese defenders, with almost a half-million native Okinawan's caught between them. The fighting was so intense that it is reported that almost half of the American forces needed treatment for shell-shock. They were the lucky ones; when the echoes of the last shots had faded, 12,500 Americans, 60,000 Japanese soldiers, and 140,000 Okinawan civilians lay dead.

Director Kihachi Okamoto brings to life this tragic story in his unique way, full of moments of joy and sorrow, fear and heroism, and his special brand of bleak, black comedy.