Chocolate and Soldiers

Chocolate and Soldiers (チョコレートと兵隊, Chokorēto to Heitai) is a 1938 Japanese war film directed by Sato Takeshi and one of the most effective Japanese propaganda films of the late 1930s. The American director Frank Capra said of Chocolate and Soldiers "We can't beat this kind of thing. We make a film like that maybe once in a decade. We haven't got the actors. It shows the common Japanese soldier as an individual and as a family man, presenting even enemy Chinese soldiers as brave individuals. It is considered to be a "humanist" film, paying close attention to the human feelings of both the soldier and his family. Cinema theorist Kate Taylor-Jones suggests that Chocolate and Soldiers provided "a vision of the noble, obedient and honourable Japanese army fighting to defend the emperor and Japan.

Directed by Takeshi Sato, Chocolate and Soldiers leans on a strong ensemble — Kamatari Fujiwara, Kiyoshi Hosoi, Yuko Ichinose — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about war titles of 1938.