‘The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru’ Review: Little-Known Pacific War Tragedy Deserves Better Than This Lumbering Doc

As a seasoned film enthusiast with a penchant for historical documentaries and a soft spot for underwater exploration, I found “The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru” to be a captivating yet somewhat flawed endeavor. The story of this sunken freighter and its tragic cargo is one that deserves more attention, and Fang Li’s personal journey to uncover its secrets is certainly intriguing. However, much like a submarine navigating through treacherous waters, the film seems to be pulled in multiple directions at once.

On October 1, 1942, a Japanese cargo ship carrying approximately 1,800 British prisoners of war taken during the Battle of Hong Kong was struck by an American submarine. The ensuing turmoil saw Japanese soldiers shooting at any prisoner attempting to swim to safety while fishing boats intervened in their rescue efforts. Regrettably, over 800 British soldiers perished in this incident. Fang Li’s book “The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru” attempts to shed light on this relatively unknown event and the profound sorrow it caused in the UK, but unfortunately, it comes across as a somewhat dry history lesson that is marred by its numerous aspirations.

In Li’s documentary, he takes center stage. This filmmaker, who once specialized in geophysics but now focuses on filmmaking, has spent a significant portion of his life delving into underwater expeditions. It was through these explorations that he discovered the mysterious wreckage of the Lisbon Maru. Despite numerous assumptions, the ship’s remains were thought to be submerged in the ocean undiscovered, unstudied, and even mislocated.

Fueled by a strong curiosity to uncover the secrets of the submerged ship known as the Lisbon Maru, he begins his journey with “The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru” aiming to unearth its past in much the same way. This artifact and its story demand closer scrutiny. The film serves not only to narrate this history (with the help of visually stunning, hand-drawn animation), but also to follow Li’s quest for the ship, as well as any survivors who might have been found during production (only two remained alive at that time; they have since passed away). Furthermore, it seeks to trace the lives of the survivors’ descendants.

The Chinese documentary aims to serve two purposes: it is intended to be an oral account of the incident, capturing the sorrow of those who lost loved ones in the event, while also being linked to Li’s personal marine exploration venture. However, these diverse elements put stress on both the film and its creator, often pulling them in conflicting or even overlapping directions, leading to unnecessary repetition that undermines the very essence of Li’s project. This documentary seeks to unearth historical truths, but it may spend too much time detailing the process of excavation instead of allowing the findings, such as the emotional interviews with survivors’ descendants, to tell their own story. The documentary is marred by a persistent air of self-praise that detracts from the quality of the research presented.

A key problem with “The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru” is a structural one. Throughout the film, Li insists on the main value his documentary has: It is telling a story few people know, one that’s seldom been told, let alone documented. Yet time and time again, his own sources contradict such a statement. He interviews Tony Banham, a historian who wrote an entire book that shares a title with his documentary (published back in 2006). He uses recorded testimonials by some of the survivors of the Lisbon Maru who have since died, that were compiled as oral histories of that pivotal event. He even stages a gotcha segment where he interviews bystanders on the streets in the U.K. and asks them about whether they know about the Lisbon Maru, a scene that feels better suited to a late-night skit than a framing device for a history-driven documentary (especially one so focused on the cruelty exacted by the Japanese military against a slew of British POWs).

Two compelling and thought-provoking documentaries can be found within Li’s movie. The initial first-person accounts, which are heart-wrenching to hear, serve to enhance the film’s impact. Moreover, Li’s decision to depict the soldiers’ increasingly desperate situation onboard the ship using basic animated scenes is remarkably effective. This technique keeps the emphasis on the raw immediacy of their experiences, seamlessly integrating numerous survivor accounts that support and reinforce each other. (The abundance of English-language testimonials was likely the reason for the film’s disqualification as China’s entry for the Best International Feature Film award at this year’s Oscars.)

The film concentrates on the sorrow experienced by families whose soldiers didn’t return home, highlighting the intergenerational wounds that war often leaves behind. However, the frequent switching between this theme and an extended first half that mainly discusses how Li and his team located witnesses, instead of telling the story itself, somewhat lessens the documentary’s emotional power.

To put it simply, I found myself captivated by an intriguing account of the Pacific War presented in “The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru,” a documentary that, much like other filmmakers before him who see their personal journey as equally significant to the history they’re depicting, makes his own journey the core narrative. This self-centered approach, as he himself acknowledges, overshadows the vastness and scope of the history at hand.

2024-11-24 00:16

‘The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru’ Review: Little-Known Pacific War Tragedy Deserves Better Than This Lumbering Doc

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