Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle

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Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle

2022

2h 53m

War

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

94%

Tomatometer

36 Reviews

74%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Japan, 1944. Trained for intelligence work, Hiroo Onoda, 22 years old, discovers a philosophy contrary to the official line: no suicide, stay alive whatever happens, the mission is more important than anything else. Sent to Lubang, a small island in the Philippines where the Americans are about to land, his role will be to wage a guerilla war until the return of the Japanese troops. The Empire will surrender soon after, Onoda 10,000 days later.

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Critics Consensus

With absorbing patience and palpable empathy, Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle finds poignant drama in one real-life soldier's stubborn pursuit of honor.

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James Lattimer

Sight & Sound

May 14, 2026

Yet while the true story of a Japanese soldier marooned in an endless, ultimately self-created conflict has obvious dramatic potential, the film’s humdrum dramatization lacks the necessary visual or narrative finesse to keep viewers absorbed.

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Noel Murray

Los Angeles Times

Dec 16, 2022

“Onoda” is an insightful portrait of fanaticism, illustrating how bad ideas can take root simply because people are naturally resistant to change.

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Teo Bugbee

New York Times

Oct 6, 2022

Harari chooses to create a psychological portrait of his central character, using images rather than explanations of ideology to tap into Onoda’s mind-set.

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William Stottor

Loud and Clear Reviews

Aug 13, 2024

3.5/5

The highly immersive Onoda: 10000 Nights in the Jungle depicts the fascinating story of a soldier for whom World War Two ended decades after 1945.

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Panos Kotzathanasis

Asian Movie Pulse

Dec 26, 2022

7.5

A great film, a true epic that shows the consequences of war in the most eloquent fashion through a truly impactful and quite dramatic story.

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Lee Jutton

Film Inquiry

Dec 17, 2022

Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle is a hallucinatory look at the horror of war that revels in the absurdity as well as the tragedy of Onoda’s thirty-year refusal to face reality.

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Steve C

@RT19610513 Oct 19, 2024

Poor guy. If only he believed his own parents.

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Max A

@RT97263949 Mar 6, 2023

Saying that this film tells a complex story is an understatement, Onoda is about a man's duty over everything else, it's a beautiful work of art splendidly executed every step of the way.

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James M

@RT56884204 Feb 9, 2023

An example of how to take a great story and ruin it by dragging it out so much that I had to keep pressing the forward button. It gets slower and slower as it progresses, until it barely moves forward at all.

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gareth d

@HiGarethDavies Dec 16, 2022

Really long, really slow and really fascinating - it's hard to believe this a true story and this guy survived for this long.

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william d

@acsdoug Dec 6, 2022

Although a little long, Onoda compellingly portrays the story of a man whose actions I would never consider emulating.

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Arthur Harari

Director

Yûya Endô

Hiroo Onoda - Young

Kanji Tsuda

Hiroo Onoda - Old

Taiga Nakano

Norio Suzuki - The Tourist

Yûya Matsuura

Kinshichi Kozuka - Young

Tetsuya Chiba

Kinshichi Kozuka - Old

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Synopsis

Japan, 1944. Trained for intelligence work, Hiroo Onoda, 22 years old, discovers a philosophy contrary to the official line: no suicide, stay alive whatever happens, the mission is more important than anything else. Sent to Lubang, a small island in the Philippines where the Americans are about to land, his role will be to wage a guerilla war until the return of the Japanese troops. The Empire will surrender soon after, Onoda 10,000 days later.

Director: Arthur Harari
Producer: Nicolas Anthomé
Screenwriter: Arthur Harari, Vincent Poymiro
Distributor: Dark Star Pictures
Production Co: Frakas Productions, Doco Digital, Pandora Filmproduktion, To Be Continued, Ascent Film, arte France Cinéma, Anti-Archive, RAI Cinema, Proximus, Chipangu, Bathysphere Productions
Genre: War, Drama
Original Language: Japanese
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 7, 2022, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 13, 2022
Runtime: 2h 53m
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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